Masks In The Shadows
by W. R. Winters
Summary: Everyone knows about Ladybug and Chat Noir, the heroes in the spotlight. Responsible for protecting the people of Paris from Hawkmoth's Akumas, but there's more than just them. Heroes that aren't in the public eye, working discreetly to help your heroes bear the burden that is protecting Paris. This is their story. Co-written by W. R. Winters and Starskulls (Features OCs)
1. Chapter 1

**All is dark before lightning strikes, illuminating a dark coffin and a female silhouette standing next to it. The female pulls a switch and the coffin is filled with electricity until the coffin opens, revealing W.R. Winters inside. The author groans as he begins to get up and out of the coffin.**

**Mysterious Female: He's alive...Alive! ALIVE!**

**W.R. Winters: Yes, I am alive my dear readers, been a long time, well over a year since you've heard or gotten anything from me story-wise. So of course I return with a brand new story in a fandom I haven't posted for before instead of updating one of my old stories that are collecting dust on my author page...but anyway, also you've probably noticed that I'm not alone, I'm co-authoring this story with one of my best friends. So everyone give a warm welcome to Starskulls!**

**Starskulls: Hello everyone! It's great to be here, but not only is this a new story, its a sequel to a story we wrote together that's posted on my profile. So before reading this story, you might wanna gain some contect from the prequel '_Miraculous Ladybug: Narcisse_'.**

**W.R. Winters: Yep, we had a lot of fun writing that one, so of course we had to continue it. Disclaimer: Neither me or Star own Miraculous Ladybug or any of its characters, we just own our OCs which will be in this story.**

**Starskulls: Now, without any further ado...we hope you enjoy the first chapter of '_Masks In the Shadows_'!**

**-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

CHAPTER 1: A Recollection of Lies

* * *

It was just a regular day in the chemistry classroom during lunch period. Everyone was eating and a certain student with a brown hair done in a ponytail, dressed in a black vest under a bright green t-shirt, black and white gloves, a pink tutu skirt over black leggings, purple boots, and safety goggles over her bright green eyes,` was carefully holding a test tube over a beaker, "Steady Izzy…gotta get this just right," she muttered to herself as she started to carefully and slowly pour the test tube's contents into the beaker.

"…Look, I'm not saying Blair is a bad name for a superhero, I just don't know why that's the name of a Raccoon themed superhero," a voice said as whoever it belonged to, entered the room.

The teen looked away from what she was doing to see who it was, 'Seriously, another one? What is wrong with my name?' Yes, the teenaged chemist was also Blair, the raccoon miraculous holder that had been working to protect the people of Paris for the past two weeks. However, since she had become known to the public, she had been overhearing a lot of people questioning why she chose Blair as her superhero name. Can't she simply just- Her thoughts were cut off by a small explosion and a cloud of pink colored smoked was blasted into her face.

"Izzy, are you okay?" A different voice asked, definitely concerned.

Izzy coughed a few times, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little…just a…ah…." she trailed off when she felt a tingling in her nose. "ACHOO! Just some stuff went up the nose there," she said, taking off her safety goggles and grabbing a nearby rag to clean the pink soot off her face, "Hey Andrew, hey guys, what's up?"

Standing in front of her was her best friend Andrew, a teenaged boy wearing his signature fedora over his blonde hair, his hands in the pockets of his brown leather jacket that he wore over a plain t-shirt, jeans and white shoes. From behind a pair of glasses, his blue eyes were concerned, but also amused at the sight before him. Standing next to him were two of their other classmates; Marinette and Alya.

"Bless you," Marinette said, "And sorry if we threw off your concentration, we were just coming to see if you wanted to eat lunch with us," she said.

"Oh, sure, that sounds great, just let me clean up a bit here," Izzy said with a smile as she started to pack up the materials. Normally Izzy and Andrew just did their own thing by themselves, just the two of them. But ever since prior to and during the events of Lila and Chloe getting akumatized into the diamond queen Narcisse two weeks ago, the duo had found themselves hanging out with Alya, Marinette, Nino, and Adrien.

* * *

Meanwhile in a different part of the school, a certain girl could tell that her classmates were whispering around her. They were also staying out of her way, averting their gazes to avoid making eye contact with her, and when she got close enough for her to hear them, they would get really quiet; they were talking about her. Normally this would be a good thing…but not this time.

This is what Lila had been dealing with for almost two weeks. Two weeks since she had been akumatized along with that brat Chloe. She shuddered, just saying her name filled her with disgust, 'How and why is Adrien such good friends with her? I'm far better company,' she thought to herself. But it wasn't just because of her being akumatized that people were talking about her. Two weeks ago, she was also outed, and not just to anyone, but to perhaps one of the biggest gossipers of the city, the righteous spreader of the truth, and most famous reporter/blogger in the city: Alya.

Once she found out the word spread like a fire, and everyone had been treating her differently. Well, everyone except- Lila shook her head to clear those thoughts from her mind. She had to act like it didn't bother her, it was all she could do. She couldn't spin another lie; people were far more cautious of her now. Sure, with enough fabricated evidence they'd believe her...Lila sighed, "This wasn't how things were supposed to be," she quietly thought out loud.

* * *

The Italian entered the locker room and walked straight to her locker. She just wanted to get her stuff and get these last few classes over with so she could go back home and be alone. "December…times three…minus half," she muttered to herself as she turned the dial until the lock clicked. When she opened her locker though she was treated by something that she definitely didn't put in her locker. She took it out to take a better look at it.

It was a shirt with something bedazzled across the chest with white jewels that resembled diamonds, "The Lie-talian…" Lila read, her hands beginning to shake and clench, the fabric of the shirt stretching slightly. It was bad enough hearing that name whispered around in the halls, but putting it on a shirt? "When I find out who came up with that nickname…" she muttered.

"I think it's quite fitting," a familiar ear-grating voice said with a laugh, "Super Liar just wasn't cutting it, sounds too much like a hero, which you certainly are not. Plus, that shirt would work far better than that disaster you call an outfit."

Lila scoffed and turned around to look at the blonde standing behind her, "Oh Chloe, that is just like you to put the needs of others before your own, just like the miraculous superhero you are," Lila said with a combination of honey, sarcasm, and venom, "Please tell me, was it you that came up with this – oh so – creative nickname?" she asked.

"As much as I would like to take credit, I can't," Chloe said, "And you're right, it is so like me, and you should be grateful. I don't just give advice to anyone, but you seem to need it. Think of it as my good deed for the day. Come Sabrina. I shouldn't be around such a villain for much longer, she might rub off on me," she said with a smug grin before walking away with the redhead following close behind her.

If looks could kill, Chloe might as well have been touched by a Cataclysm, "Good deed for the day? Try month or even year," Lila said under her breath as she looked down at the shirt. It wasn't fair, it's not like she asked to be akumatized…at least not this time. People talked about her and yet there Chloe was still thinking she was Queen of Paris as if she two wasn't akumatized along with her two weeks ago. Everyone was still afraid to touch her because she was the mayor's daughter. Well everyone except Marinette and her friends…but they were the last people she wanted to talk to right now.

Lila didn't need this. She threw it back in her locker, grabbed her books before slamming the locker shut, and walking out of the locker room.

* * *

Andrew helped Izzy with the chemistry supplies so that they could get it done faster, and once everything was put away the started to head to lunch, "So, what's this about Blair's name?" Izzy asked.

The blonde resisted the urge to sigh and/or roll his eyes, Andrew had been dealing with this conversation multiple times. Though not as Andrew, but as his bear-themed miraculous persona Ursa. There had been multiple times during the past two weeks where Blair had borderline ranted to him on multiple occasions about the apparent confusion surrounding her name. And it had gotten quite exhausting to listen to at this point.

"Well, Marinette and I were wondering why she chose Blair or something more fitting," Alya said as she pulled out her phone.

Marinette raised a finger, "Actually I want to point out that Alya was the one that was wondering, I'm sure Blair has her reasons," she clarified.

"Just check out some of these other names I've either heard or came up with that she could've chosen," the reporter said, showing the others her phone.

Andrew looked the list over, reading it fairly quickly: Banded Laveur, Ringed Laveur, Coon Noir/Noir Coon, Rayures, Lotor Mask, and… "Miss Chief?" He asked, needing to adjust his glasses to make sure he was reading the last name correctly, "How'd you come up with that?" The other he could probably guess, but Miss Chief seemed the most random.

"It's a pun, she has the miraculous of mischief," Alya explain, "Mischief, Mis-chief…Miss Chief."

Andrew needed a second, "…Wow…that physically hurt me," he said with a deadpanned look on his face, wishing he could forget the past 10 seconds, "I'm sure if Cat Noir wasn't head over paws for Ladybug he'd probably fall in love with you for that pun alone," he said, glancing over at his best friend, who clearly had millions of thoughts running through her head. Though as for what kind of thoughts Izzy was having, it was really anybody's guess.

Alya laughed with a shrug, "Well, unfortunately for him, I'm taken," she said before turning to the brunette, "What about you Izzy, what do you think?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"I think…" Izzy started, it seemed like she was choosing her words very carefully, "That it's none of our business to question why superheroes choose the names they do. Maybe Blair didn't care about names that were related to raccoons and just wanted a simple cute name that she liked."

Andrew had to agree; not just because Izzy's theory made sense, but it was pretty much exactly right. That was the reason that Blair had told Ursa after all. Though Blair didn't mention the 'didn't care about relating her name to a 'raccoon' part. The three girls continued their discussion with Andrew choosing not to say anything, and then his phone began to ring.

He pulled out his phone to take a look…unknown number, that's odd, "You girls go on while I take this," the girls nodded and went ahead. Chances are it was a telemarketer or some other scam, but he had to make sure it wasn't important. He tapped the green button and held the phone to his ear, "Hello…who's this?...Oh, is this just a social call or was there something you wanted?…Well I've got a pretty full schedule today, but I'll be in the library tomorrow morning…Alright, tomorrow it is, see you then." Andrew hung up the phone, looking at the screen, "Well, this'll be interesting," he said quietly to himself before moving to catch up with the girls.

* * *

-*x*X*x*-

* * *

A couple hours later, it calm and quiet night in the city of Paris. The sounds of the night filling the air, the stars sparkling in the sky with the city lights shining on the ground. Not many were out enjoying the night, those that were out weren't there for the peaceful atmosphere. For a certain group of people dressed in dark coloured clothing, the only thing they were focus on was whether or not they'd be able to get the lock on the door open.

The locked clicked, they were in.

The door opened and the robbers rushed into the jewellery store. One of them rushed to the alarms control panel and got to work while the others rushed to the display cases and started loading all the goods. Rings, bracelets, necklaces, the money from the register; anything they could get their hands on.

"Okay, alarm is taken care of, what's the progress on the safe?" a robber, one that had been working on control panel, asked his cronies. After receiving an affirmative from someone in the back room of the shop, he noticed that there was one object that had been left untouched. In fact, the others seemed to be outright ignoring it. "Hey, what gives?" he said walking over to the display, "You guys are grabbing everything except perhaps the most expensive thing in the store?" He went to grab it, but stopped when he noticed how terrified the others got, "What?"

"Don't you know what that is?" One of the others asked, even taking a few steps back.

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, a few grand waiting to be pawned online. Seriously what's the big deal, it's just some fancy tiara?"

The one that spoke shook her head, "That's not just any tiara, that was Narcisse's tiara," she said. Upon hearing the name, he retracted his hand and moved away from the headpiece like it was going to explode if he touched it.

"Nice catch, who knows what kinda weird akuma voodoo whatever is still inside it," he said, shuddering. He and his crew had been among those put under the influence of the diamond themed akuma with a royalty/god complex two weeks ago. Thanks to the Ladyblog, Paris knew that Narcisse's akumatized item was a diamond tiara. Since then people had been avoiding this jewelry store, which is what made it a good place to rob. "Gotta appreciate those miraculous heroes for freeing us from that crystal tyranny," he said.

"You say that," the gang leaped out of their skins at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. Looking towards it they saw a teenaged girl in a raccoon themed outfit sitting on a high shelf that they hadn't looted yet. "But you'd think that someone that appreciates the work we do maybe wouldn't commit crimes, just saying," she said with a shrug as she twirled a leafy stick in her hand.

"You're…you're Blair," the leader said, recognizing her from the blog.

"Aww…you know me," she said, a hand going to her chest, "That's very touching, thank you. So, if you know me, you also know what I do…" she said, "We gonna do this the easy way, or is this gonna be fun?" she asked with a smile that they honestly didn't want to know the meaning behind.

The robbers looked between one another, "Well…the way we see it. There's a bunch of us, and only one of you. We got you outnumbered."

Blair raised her eyebrows, "One of me? If you know us miraculous holders, you should know that are never alone, we just like to send one of us in so that the other can make a big dramatic entrance," she said. No sooner than she did, the door to the back room shattered and a robber came flying out of the back room slammed through the store's window and landed roughly in front of the store, groaning in pain.

"Little bit too hard, that's my bad," a deep and resonating voice said from the backroom, "Also having a bit of trouble with the doorway, just a second."

Blair giggled, "Still a bit awkward with his strength, might wanna take a step back," she said. "Also I wouldn't recommend making a break for the now broken window, unless you wanna see if you can outrun me."

They were of course thinking of making a run for it, but then they were distracted by the almost 10' tall teen in a bear-themed suit literally bursting through the doorway, making it much larger than it was before, and stepping forward, crouching a bit so that his head didn't hit the ceiling, "Hey, Ursa here, sorry about your friend and for my tardiness," he said to the group in front of him that looked pretty close to wetting themselves, "So, I take it you guys chose the fun way?" he asked while cracking his knuckles loudly.

"That's right, Ursa," Blair said, who was now standing in front of the now broken window and blocking their only exit, "They thought they could overwhelm me with their sheer numbers," she said.

Ursa cringed, "Ooh, big mistake there, don't underestimate girls," he said, "Especially ones wielding a magical artifact that gives them ancient supernatural powers."

"Wait wait waitwaitwaitwaitwait," the leader said, "Maybe we can talk about this, we can drop the jewelry and you let us go…and we don't drop an anonymous to the police that we saw Blair and Ursa vandalizing the shop." His squad blinked in bewilderment. Honestly, they didn't know if their leader was an idiot or a genius.

The giant seemed to consider it, "Hmmm, good point, I have seem to have made a mess of things here, and that's not very hero-like at all," he said, for a second the robbers' hopes began to rise. "But I can fix that, being a magical superhero and all that, one moment please," he said, causing their hopes to crash and burn. He took the honey dipper from his belt and enlarged it, "Burdens Beared!" He announced before he slammed the tool against the ground.

Once Ursa removed his hand from the tool, it began to glow with a golden energy and a substance that looked like – and most likely was – honey began to seep out of the dipper onto the floor, and soon it turned into a flow. Once there was a small pond of honey around the dipper it soon began to move around the store as if it had a mind of its own. It picked up the pieces of varying debris and was soon repairing the damage Ursa had done to the store, the large hole in the back wall, the broken door, the shattered window. The honey even brought the robber that was outside into the store.

Before long the store looked like it hadn't been damaged at all, in fact there was absolutely no evidence that Ursa had done anything at all. Once the job was done the honey then went back into the honey dipper, which Ursa picked up and rested on his shoulder while he looked around the store looked around the store, "Well, so much for your leverage," he said.

"So," Blair said, looking quite smug behind them, "I take it this negotiation has now been changed to discussing the terms of you leaving to the terms of your surrender? If not we're more than happy to tango, I've still got some tricks up my sleeve I'd be more than happy to use," she said, her mischievous grin only growing bigger.

The robbers looked amongst themselves, then in-between Blair and Ursa, and once they started eying the door it was quite clear what they were thinking. "Mischleaf!" Blair said, the leaves on her stick glowing, and then launching them right as robbers made a break for the door. The group ran right into the barrage and once making contact the green projectiles exploded into this cloud of green powder that enveloped them. The power clung to the clothes and skin and before they reached the door the robbers had stopped in their tracks and were now scratching their bodies as if they had a horrible itch.

Blair walked around the group to stand by Ursa, who was now shrinking down to normal size, "So, we can now add 'itching powder' to your arsenal of Mischleaf possibilities," Ursa said.

"Yep, though it sucks that I can't choose what the leaves do," Blair said, "Wouldn't sticky goo be way more fitting against runaway criminals?" Ursa shrugged. "Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, you wanna call it in?" she asked. Ursa nodded and shrunk his honey dipper back to normal and then opened the top like it was a flip phone and dialed the police department.

* * *

Blair and Ursa were sitting on the edge of the rooftop watching the police load the criminals into the police vehicles, though they were having a bit of trouble. Not because they were resisting arrest, but because they were still itching. "Another day, another criminal put in police custody," Ursa said.

"Aye," Blair nodded in agreement, "Not gonna lie, though, doesn't feel quite as epic as fighting akumas," she said, "And I know what you're gonna say, it's not what we're here for, we're here to handle the other criminals-"

"Nah, you're right," the bear-themed hero said, "There's a big difference between fighting a super-powered monster and a group of offenders that think they have a shot against us, doesn't feel like we're doing as much as we should be doing to lessen the burden that is protecting this city."

Blair snorted, "Yeah, I mean if we could just march up to Hawkmoth's door and just turn him in that'd be a much bigger help," she said, getting a chuckle out of both of them, once their laughter died down Blair considered it, "Actually…that's not a bad idea."

"What isn't a bad idea?" Ursa asked, somewhat confused.

Blair paused, 'Oh boy, why must I have two likable idiots in my life?' she thought to herself, "We can track down Hawkmoth, what better way to lessen the burden than to help them take down their biggest threat?" Blair got up and started pacing around the roof. "If we can find out who he is then we can team up with Ladybug and Chat Noir and tackle the problem straight at the source and then the burden of protecting the city will be significantly less because the biggest threat to Paris will be gone!"

Ursa got up and joined her in her pacing, "Hey, you're right. When we don't use our powers when stopping crimes or on days where crime is slow we can look into who Hawkmoth could be or at least where his lair could be, we can be detectives in addition to super-" Ursa's ring cut him off and he looked at his ring, "Wow time really flew, I'm down to my last minute," he said, "Plus it's late and we can't all be nocturnal."

"Don't worry, I should probably crash anyway," Blair said with a giggle, she held up her stick, "Wack it?"

The bear-themed hero chuckled before hitting Blair's stick with his dipper, "Wack it…is that our thing now?"

She shrugged, "Who knows, still thinking of alternatives," she said. Ursa seemed to accept that answer before launching himself off the roof with a powerful leap while Blair ran and jumped across rooftops in a different direction. Both miraculous holders soon vanishing into the night.

* * *

-*x*X*x*-

* * *

The next morning at the Francoise Dupont High School, the fedora wearing blonde was walking towards the school library. Despite staying up so late fighting criminals, Andrew wanted to make sure he got to the library early so that he could properly prepare for what was about to happen. Izzy would probably consider killing him if she knew what he was doing, but it was something that a part of him wanted to happen, so it was time to start to see this through.

Once Andrew entered the library, he was surprised to see that who he was expecting was already sitting at his usual reading table, waiting for him. He wasn't sure how long she had been here, but so much for preparing in advance, but he pushed his shock aside and walked over to the table.

"You know, when I gave you my number, I never thought you'd actually call," he said when he was close enough. The girl didn't seem amused. Though Andrew didn't seem fazed by it, he merely shrugged and sat down in the seat across from the girl, "Shall we get started, Lila?"

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

**W.R. Winters: Well, I'd say we're off to an interesting start.**

**Starskulls: Hehehe..It was very satisfying to see Lila mocked like that. *evil grin***

**W.R. Winters: Well feelings towards the characters aside, we hope you enjoyed this chapter. There are many more to come and we're very excited to write them.**

**Starskulls: Yep, in fact, our goal is to give you guys a chapter every two weeks so that you guys get consistent content. Be sure to leave a review telling us your thoughts, cupcakes to all that do!**

**W.R. Winters: See y'all in two weeks, this is W.R. Winters and Starskulls, signing off.**


	2. Chapter 2

**W.R. Winters: Welcome back everyone, like we promised, we would have a new chapter for you in two weeks.**

**Starskulls: Though we almost didn't because _someone_ almost forgot that the two weeks were up.**

**W.R. Winters: Hey, two weeks is a long time and I'm very busy, my mind wasn't on the next chapter of this story.**

**Starskulls: You heard it here folks, my co-author doesn't care about this story or it's readers!**

**W.R. Winters: *Rolls eyes* That is not what I meant and you know it! You're no better with you being distracted by the finale airing.**

**Starskulls: You can't blame me for that.**

**W.R. Winters: Just did. Anyway, we kept you waiting long enough, so on with the chapter!**

**-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

**_Recap of the last chapter: It has been two weeks since the events of the akumatization of Narcisse, and since then Lila has been facing ridicule from the other students of her school in light of being exposed as a liar. Also the duo of friends Izzy and Andrew have been hanging out more with Marinette, Adrien, and the rest of the gang. Also, the Raccoon Heroine Blair and her partner the Bear Hero Ursa have been protecting Paris from the shadows by handling criminals such as stopping the robbing of a jewelry stopping said robbery, Blair and Ursa make a pact to start doing a little detective work in order to find out who Hawkmoth is and where he could be hiding. Where we left off was at school the next day where Andrew has met up with Lila in the library to talk._**

* * *

**-*X*x*X*- **

* * *

CHAPTER 2: Attempted Civil Conversation

* * *

Andrew sighed as he placed his bag on the table. It was full of books as usual. He had a list of things he wanted to discuss with Lila. Being akumatized for one thing. Not to mention all of the rumours going around. Granted he was slightly relieved that not everyone believed her lies anymore. It caused a lot of trouble for people and disruptions, but people were blowing things out of proportions a little. He remembered that just over a week ago where someone had taken her gym clothes and covered them with diamond stickers with the words 'Lila Liar' right on the front.

He remembered Izzy laughing at this, which he had reprimanded her for. She apologized to Andrew but not to Lila as she had told a lie about her before, stating that she was brewing a chemical she was going to put in drinks that gave everyone…well let's just say it wasn't something pleasant. After being threatened with being expelled, Izzy had to give all of her science notes as evidence as well as Ms Mendeleiev being a witness. Izzy has hated Lila ever since.

"So, what's been going on with you lately. Are you doing okay?" Andrew asked carefully. Lila scowled at him.

"You know good and well what's been going on!" she snapped. Andrew raised his hands in surrender.

"I know. That's why I was asking if you were okay," Andrew said calmly. Lila's scowl softened slightly as she folded her arms and turned her head to the side slightly.

"I'm…fine," she muttered. Okay that was progress, Andrew said. Sort of. He knew she wasn't fine due to the new unwanted attention her lies had placed on her. It was bound to come back at her eventually. I guess she didn't know how hard it would impact her.

"Are you sure?" Andrew repeated. Lila's arms clenched.

"You've seen what's going on…what do you think?" Lila seethed. Andrew nodded in understanding.

"I know. I can't imagine that it's been easy for you," Andrew commented. Lila this time looked at him, this time with less hate in her eyes. He wasn't teasing her. He was being genuine. She turned herself a little more to face him now.

"What would you know. I bet you've been laughing with them. You're the one who started this anyway!" she said crossly. Andrew blinked.

"You mean the library incident?" he asked.

"Yes," Lila replied.

"I apologized for that. I didn't like the use of one of my favorite artists to boost your likability. That is all. I did not know that it would upset you that much, but if its any reassurance I wasn't 'Laughing with them' as you say," Andrew said with complete honestly in his voice. Lila rolled her eyes.

"Sure. And I'm sure that you didn't tell that wannabe blogger to post it?" Lila said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Andrew sighed. While he appreciated Alya's blogs for promoting the heroes, especially Ursa and Blair as of late, she didn't have to post everything that happened daily. It violated privacy. He should actually make a comment on that.

"No, I did not. To be honest I only read the blog for the heroes. The new ones are quite interesting," Andrew said, leaning forward slightly to get more of a discussion out of her. Lila rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, just what this city needs, more losers in tights," she said nastily. Andrew's inner Ursa persona cringed slightly. They weren't tights. They were tight fitting but…not the same thing! Putting the inner bear back in the cave, he coughed slightly. This was going to be a challenge.

* * *

Since they had two free periods before their next science lesson, Andrew kept trying to engage Lila in all sorts of topics. Books, films, hobbies and tried again with the superheroes but she didn't really say more than one sentence per topic. At least she was talking a little to him. He had tried to ask how she was about being akumatized but she had started to shout at one point; loud enough for the librarian to nearly thrown her out. That was something to make note of. Do NOT bring up her being a villain.

The bell finally rang for their next class and Andrew stood up with a smile. "Well, this was nice. Would you like to do it again soon?" he asked. Lila scoffed.

"I have much too busy a schedule. Plus, my reputation would be even more ruined if I'm seen with a loser like you," Lila sneered. Andrew gave an eye roll. Ah yes, being called a loser was not an uncommon trait in school. Especially if you're a bookworm.

"You keep up with that attitude, then not even the losers will want to hang out with you," Andrew said, completely unfazed, which surprised Lila.

"Well…what loser would want to?" she said, a slightly pink dusting coming across her cheeks. Andrew grinned cheekily.

"Well, there's this loser for one," he said, pointing to himself, "You have my number if you want to do this again," he said as he slung his bag over his shoulder and headed to the exit. The last thing he needed was an angry Izzy. It was one thing about her. She always liked to be on time. She always WAS on time and always smacked him if he wasn't, which was ridiculous considering how many attendance awards he's won.

"Mmph!" she muttered to herself. Why was he making such an effort? Before this had all happened, she wouldn't been seen with him at all. It was ridiculous. Oh great, now she was thinking like the blonde beast! It was odd that he was making such an effort with her despite all of the names she was calling him in front of him…and behind his back. Not that anyone would listen to her at this point anyway. Still…maybe it would be nice to talk to someone again.

* * *

Andrew exited the library with a content smile on his face. No sooner had he closed the door, Izzy appeared, making him jump in surprise. He placed a hand on his chest and scowled at her. She was there with an innocent look on his face, but Andrew knew all too well that she wasn't as innocent as she looked. An angel with devil horns if you will.

"I hate it when you do that," he said in annoyance.

"Why do you think I do it?" she answered cheerfully.

"Yeah, yeah, you're hilarious," he saod as he stuck his tongue out at her.

"I know. I guessed you'd be here. What were you doing, new research for class projects?" Izzy asked and Andrew hesitated. This would be awkward.

"I was...uh…" Andrew started but the library door opened again, making the pair move over to the side slightly.

Lila came out and looked at Andrew as she shut the door. She was about to give him a half smile until she saw Izzy standing beside him. Lila gave her a scowl.

"What are you doing here? The clown recruitment for the circus is that way," Lila said meanly.

"Yeah? What are you doing in the library? Researching how to lie and make yourself more likable?" Izzy shot back.

Andrew gripped his bag slightly. He did not want to be caught in this kind of fight. Especially with Izzy being…well Izzy. Lila's face grew red with rage.

"I am not a liar!" she practically shrieked.

"That's not what I heard…" Izzy sung with an eye roll.

"You can't talk to me like this!" Lila retorted.

"Can't I? Because you've always talked down to me when everyone thought you were amazing with your 'lies'. Now you're exposed. So, who's the clown now?" Izzy said with a finger snap.

Lila had nothing to say to this, but Andrew was pretty sure that the veins on her forehead were going to explode at this point. She said nothing more but gave a shriek of frustration and headed off to her next class; steam practically coming out of her ears. Andrew sighed; the past hours of work being flushed down the drain instantly. He turned to look at Izzy who had a look of satisfaction on her face.

"Did you have to do that?" Andrew asked with a frown. Izzy looked at him with a deadpan look on her face.

"Why not?" she questioned.

"What if she gets akumatized again?" Andrew said sharply.

"Then Ladybug, Chat Nor, Blair and Ursa will take care of it," Izzy said with a shrug.

"That's besides the point, just becuase the heroes will fix it, it doesn't give you permission to go around talking down to people like that. It doesn't make it any easier on the heroes, quite the opposite. It's something Chloe would do. Getting people akumatized is her job," Andrew replied.

"Fine I see that point. But if it's not me, then it will be someone else. If we're being completely honest here, I don't even like you hanging around her. I see why you're doing it, but I think it's a waste of time," Izzy said with her arms folded.

Andrew paused at that, he saw her point. Lila had been getting harassed for two weeks now, and she had not been akumatized (which he was thankful for) but at the same time, it was weird. Was Hawkmoth waiting for a specific moment to strike? As a hero, he had to be cautious. But as Andrew, he had to extra cautious.

"Point taken, just keep in mind that knowing that someone else will do it doesn't give you an excuse to do it too. But if you know why I'm doing this, then why are you being like this?" Andrew questioned. After he had told Izzy about giving his contact details to Lila, she had gone absolutely mental, going on about how she was dangerous, a liar, and would manipulate him into doing her bidding.

"Because…" Izzy said as she gripped the sides of her head tightly. The last thing she wanted was him to be one of her liar leverages. Not to mention being akumatized if something bad happened. She hated Lila and partially hated him for trying to see good in everyone. It's what got him hurt. But she couldn't tell him not to do that. It was one of his amazing qualities that made him…well him! Lila would not change. The day she would change is the day that Chloe came to school in a sugarplum dress giving out sweets and having a honest smile on her face.

"Izzy?" Andrew said as he waved a hand in front of his friend's face. She shook her head and stomped her foot, much to his amusement.

"Nothing…just watch yourself you idiot," Izzy said. Andrew ruffled her hair; messing her ponytail slightly.

"I will, you idiot," he said teasingly. Giving him a shove, the pair then headed off to class. What a start to the day. Hopefully, nothing else would cause a stir. Hopefully.

* * *

Science class went by fairly quickly. Lila wasn't in that particular period, so Andrew was partially worried that there'd be another akumatized villain on the loose. Thankfully, all was well. Except for Izzy, whose head was so red and hot for not getting a formula right the first time, you could have literally friend eggs on it.

"So, you guys wanna meet up for lunch again? I enjoy our daily discussions!" Alya said cheerfully.

"Sure Alya!" Adrien said. He had lunch with Chloe the other day. The food was so rich at the restaurant she picked; his stomach had been in tatters when he got home. Marinette internally squealed at going to lunch with Adrien. She did forget that other people were there too.

"I'm down with that," Nino said with a grin.

"I don't know, if we're gonna discuss stuff, are you gonna post it?" Andrew said cautiously. Alya rolled her eyes and flicked through her phone, it wasn't the first time that Andrew had brought up his distaste for her blog.

"I don't post everything," she retorted.

Crickets. Literal crickets.

"Ummm…you kinda do," Izzy pointed out as she didn't look up from her formula notebook. Andrew looked over at the scribbles she was jotting down. How the teachers understood this, Andrew would never know. It was witch craft! That was the only option.

"I'm a blogger!" Alya defended. Her loud tone of voice caught the attention of Ms Mendeleiev who glared over in her direction.

"Is there something you would like to share with the whole class?" Ms Mendeleiev asked and Alya laughed sheepishly.

"No uh sorry!" Alya said awkwardly. Chloe scoffed from her seat in the front row as Ms Mendeleiev turned back to the board. Sabrina joined her in her scoffing.

"Like anything wanna be blogger says would be interesting anyway," she sneered. Now Alya's glare was aimed at the blonde beast. Although carefully not to attract the attention of the teacher again, she delivered her own comments.

"At least people actually listen to me, you big mouthed blonde," Alya hissed.

"Oh boy," Andrew said as he edged in his seat towards Izzy and away from Alya.

Nino cowered slightly and Adrien tried his best not to look uncomfortable. Marinette was trying to calm Alya down but didn't exactly disagree with what her friend was saying. Izzy didn't divert her attention from her book. She only got involved if the insults got interesting. By interesting, she meant REALLY interesting.

"Ugh how dare you! People adore what I say, people listen to me far more than your blog," Chloe replied with a sneer.

"Not cool!" Nino said.

"At least Alya doesn't get akumatised in order to get news attention," Izzy said out of the blue, still not looking up from her book. The insults were boring. She decided to intervene and spice it up. It worked. Most of the class heard this and had satisfied looks on their faces yet struggled to hold back cheers.

"Wow," Marinette squeaked as she tried to contain her laughter. So simple yet so elegant.

"Beautiful," Andrew said as he tipped his fedora and gave his friend a high five; both students not looking at each other but shared hidden smiles. Adrien had a look of bewilderment on his face but had slightly amusement while Nino and Alya struggled to contain their laughter in order to avoid Ms Mendeleiev's wrath. Chloe had no such restraint. A gasket blew.

"WHO ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Chloe bellowed as she stood up from her seat. Other students in the class winced at her voice. Ms Mendeleiev whirled around with an angry look on her face.

"Miss Bourgeois! No yelling in the class! What is the meaning of this?!" Ms Mendeleiev asked in annoyance. Chloe aimed her manicured nail at Izzy, who again didn't look up.

"This clown has the nerve to make fun of me after Hawkmoth akumatised me! It is completely insensitive. Punish her!" Chloe demanded.

"Miss Jones?" Ms Mendeleiev commented with a raised eyebrow. Only then did Izzy look up from her book.

"Yes ma'am? I was talking to Andrew about this formula, he was having a little trouble. I wasn't really paying attention to what Chloe was saying. I apologize for not listening," Izzy said, casting a sad fake smile over to Chloe, who was red with fury.

"You…!" Chloe seethed.

"Quite alright Izzy. Now settle down Chloe," Ms Mendeleiev said, giving the blonde a warning glare before she could open her mouth and turned back to the board.

"Now that is something, I wish I could have posted," Alya commented.

"I know, that was awesome!" Nino said as Izzy had her nose in book once again.

"Wish that could happen in every class," Marinette said in agreement.

"You know, in other world you would have made an excellent criminal," Andrew said with an eye roll which earned him a smack to the back of his head, knocking his hat off.

"Yeah, and guess who my first victim would be," Izzy said evilly, Andrew rolled his eyes at her with a grin as he placed his hat back on his head.

* * *

It was now lunch time and with Chloe brooding in a corner somewhere, everyone could enjoy their lunch in peace. Marinette was sitting with Alya, Adrien, Nino and Izzy. It was Pizza Day at school, so everyone was feasting on pizza. Even Adrien was having a slice, despite having packed lunch which was much healthier and disgusting. The curse of a model was always eating healthy food.

"So, with Ladybug and Chat Noir as couple. Who ships it?" Alya asked. Marinette secretly rolled her eyes while Adrien tried not to look all dreamy and lovey-dovey.

"Ladynoir? Hell yes!" Izzy said with a fist in the air and mouthful of pizza.

"The dude and dudette are cute!" Nino agreed.

"I think they're really cute together," Adrien said.

Andrew gave a shrug. "I don't know. I used to ship them a lot," Andrew answered.

"Used to?" Adrien said curiously.

"Well yeah. I mean, I can see how maybe they could be a couple or in love, but if you look at the news footage from before Oblivio was defeated then it seems quite clear that they aren't, if anything Ladybug seems to reject the idea of them being a couple. Plus lately the flirting thing and Chat Noir's continuous attempts to win her heart is a bit…annoying," Andrew said honestly.

As Ursa, he had interacted with Chat Noir and Ladybug. Seeing the relationship up close was a lot different. While an amazing team, the love comments Chat Noir said to Ladybug were really starting to get old. No disrespect to Chat Noir, he was an excellent super hero and definitely earned his respect. But he did need to cool it a little, or at least save it until after the akuma was defeated at least. Plus he had heard Ladybug tell Chat that she had a crush on someone else. After seeing that, Ursa really had to think about whether Chat had any respect for Ladybug's feelings at all. His dad always taught him that any true gentleman would immediately back off if the lady wasn't interested.

"I see the point in that," Marinette said. "I don't really ship them either, they're a great team as friends." She had made it clear how she felt about her feelings as Ladybug to Chat Noir, but still he persisted.

"Well yeah I agree with all that. But they make a nice-looking couple, right? I've seen lots of cute are pictures!" Izzy countered. She didn't really pay attention to the relationship as Blair...Nah, the impending doom of a villain kept her occupied.

"Speaking of which…" Alya said as she scrolled through her pictures and the held up her phone to the others.

The others craned their necks to see. It was the picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir kissing on the day of the Oblivio incident. Marinette clenched her fists. How on earth had that happened?! It annoyed her that not even Tikki could remember it. The picture made Adrien's stomach flutter with happiness and possible hope.

The other blonde sitting at the table on the other hand groaned, "See, this is what I meant! You post everything!" Andrew pointed out with a slightly annoyed expression. This was the exact reason why Lila was like this now, thanks to online wildfire.

"How could I not take it?" Alya insisted as she waved the phone in his face.

Andrew had an incredulous expression, as if the answer to Alya's question was obvious, "It's a violation of privacy for starters-"

"Easy Andy, have another slice," Izzy said, interrupting him with her resting a hand on his shoulder. Granted as a bookworm, he hasn't got a violent streak in arguments, but relied on words and his brain. But he was passionate and didn't back down. Must get it from her, Izzy thought proudly. Though while Andrew definitely got annoyed, he never got angry...and Izzy would be lying if she said she wasn't curious as to what her best friend was like when angry, but it wouldn't do anyone any good at this moment so she just made sure Andrew focused on his pizza

"Man, that was a crazy day huh," Nino said as he shuddered at the memory as did Alya. Adrien smiled to himself at the only memory he had of the day while Marinette shivered slightly. Izzy and Andrew however, had a lot of memory from the day. How ironic.

* * *

-*x*X*x*-

* * *

_Flashback:_

_It was manic in the streets. A villain with some sort of device on its wrist had appeared out of a large tower and was shooting at everyone. Thankfully, it didn't cause any physical damage but rather mental damage. People were running around, not knowing who they were! The police weren't much help either since they had memory loss too. As people continued to run around, there was a flash of black and grey and Blair appeared and landed on a bus to get a better view. She squinted as she looked around._

_"What the heck is going on here? I can't even eat lunch without Hawkmoth ruining it," Blair said with a scowl. A random bag flew through the air which made Blair duck. She straightened up and shook her twig at the thrower. "Hey! Just because your brain is fried, doesn't mean you can throw stuff."_

_"Now, now, stop harassing the citizens," a scolding voice said. Blair rolled her eyes and looked over to see Ursa coming towards her._

_"That guy started it!" Blair accused._

_"Forget about that. What's going on here?" Ursa said as looked around at the crazed people._

_"I saw the news report on a public screen when I was on my way over. Seems that a weirdo named Oblivio is erasing people's memories," Blair commented._

_"Well this is awkward. Where's Ladybug and Chat Noir?" Ursa asked. The ground then shook, and the pair readied their weapons. A shadow then started to appear, and the sky started to darken. Looking up, they saw a purple glowing sphere enlarging in the sky._

_"I'm gonna guess there," Blair said, earning her an annoyed look from Ursa._

_"Gee you think?" he said, his voice drowning in sarcasm._

_"Whatever. Should we help them?" Blair asked._

_"No. There's no one down here with the crowd control. With all this going on, thieves who haven't had their brain wiped will take advantage," Ursa said and Blair grinned._

_"Crowd control and kicking bad guys butts. Sounds like fun!" she said as she took a running leap off the lorry and vanished into the crowd. Ursa rolled his eyes at his partner._

_"In a perfect world, she'd be a little less concerned with butt kicking," he said with a grin as he headed after her._

* * *

_It was about an hour since Blair and Ursa went to sort the crowd control and thugs. There had been a few attempted break ins, but they quickly surrendered with the threat of a giant bear and a magic stick. As they regrouped in the main square, the ladybugs appeared, shimmering and circling around the victims. Everyone still looked pretty confused but the crowd calmed down quick enough and everything seemed to go back to its regular schedule. Blair suddenly kicked Ursa in the sin, which he yelled out in pain and rubbed the kicked stop._

_"Hey!" he yelled out in annoyance._

_"Kick it?" Blair said awkwardly. Ursa frowned and proceeded to punch her in the shoulder. While he was careful with his strength in order to not break her shoulder, it still hurt._

_"Punch it?" Ursa said teasingly. Blair pouted as she rubbed her arm fondly while Ursa stretched his arms._

_"Not bad for a day's work! Guess Ladybug and Chat Noir did pretty good with defeating Oblivio," Ursa commented._

_Blair didn't answer. Ursa turned to look at her to see that she was looking up ahead at the tv news broadcast screen. Her eyes were wide with surprise. Ursa followed her gazed and his jaw nearly dropped. On the screen, live from the Ladyblog, was Ladybug and Chat Noir…kissing._

_"Wow…guess that's their new pound it," Blair commented, earning a facepalm from Ursa._

* * *

-*x*X*x*-

* * *

"I got a whole new load of Ladynoir fans after that!" Alya said with a pleased grin on her face.

Adrien laughed at the comment while Andrew started to rant on privacy while Nino and Izzy continued to stuff their faces with pizza. Marinette however, stayed silent. She thought about Ursa and Blair. While she had heard that they had helped with crowd control and possible crimes, she was still concerned about them. They were pretty responsible, but the fact remained that she hadn't taken back their miraculous back. What if they were possible villains in the future? There were already lots of new miraculous holders and if more of them got kept, then Hawkmoth would have a better chance of getting his hands on them. She nodded to herself.

She needed to speak to Master Fu.

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

**W.R. Winters: Would you say that was worth the wait?**

**Starskulls: I'd say so, can't speak for the readers though. To be honest Oblivio was a bit of a cringefest looking back on it.**

**W.R. Winters: You only say that because you're a Lukanette shipper.**

**Starskulls: LUKANETTE IS BEAUTIFUL AND THEY DESERVE EACH OTHER!**

**W.R. Winters: There's no need to shout, I agree with you. Especially after watching that finale, that was definitely a journey to watch.**

**Starskulls: I know! What a way to end the season!**

**W.R. Winters: Yep, but anyway, before we sign off, we have fan-mail to respond to**

**Starskulls: You mean last chapters reviews?**

**W.R. Winters: Tomato tomahto.**

**Starskulls: Sweet, while you do that I'll get the cupcakes ready!**

* * *

_Animegamefanatic:**  
**Honestly Lila had that coming...i'm not saying it was right for people to bully her like that, especially since I hate bullies, but honestly with the crap she's pulled, it's fitting._  
_Hopefully blair and ursa don't get in too deep  
_**Starskulls: I say she definitely deserves it! Hate the bullies but love the justice! Thanks for the review and enjoy your cupcake!**  
**W.R. Winters: Ignore her, she's biased. You're fine to think that the bullying is warranted, but you'll have to wait and see what's in store for our two heroes.**

_Pinksakura271:  
Well Wolfie furist off I do love Starskulls and yours banter at beginning and end of this chapter. I read it, couldn't help but smile and laugh so needed that. The title of the story 'Masks In The Shadow' honestly I LOVE that the most. The summary IS nice but not very eye catching to me, sorry. Anyway now down to business..._  
_ON TO MY REVIEW: Goggles on right move Izzy but losing focus on the break very bad move. Yet people negatively criticizing 'Blair' name well I DO agree with them actually. But hey it's 'her' sole choice right Izzy? (Sweet Smile) 'Noir Coon' or 'Miss Chief' are great options tho. Ursa's exhausted understandable this conversation can get unbearable. ;) Cute pun Andrew, but no Kitty is loyal to Ladybrat. Furever will question that, it's not like she gives furball. _  
_Huh they got into Adrien's inner circle of furiends, Cattastic. But hey be warned Izzy Andrew things can get nuts. Of course it's vulture Ladybrat obsessor Césaire's fault Lila was not even just exposed but also backlashed. I mean Alya herself miss "great reporter" among others was foolish enough to believe Lila's brilliant yet overzealous unconnected lies._  
_Seriously Bourgeois, you believe your clever with that shirt? It wasn't you huh, well anyway why comment on it than? Oh shut up, using Clumsinette's insulting term for Lila. That's even more dry and annoying than this stupid stunt. How can Lila's "villainous" behavior rub off you Cholè, it would be counterproductive YOUR WORSE BOURGEOIS!_  
_The robbers of the jewelry store, should have planned better. Definitely the fun way to handle them Bear-y Sweet and Miss Chief. So Blair's power of mischief is low-keyed of "Lucky Charm" and Ursa's power is low-keyed of "Miraculous Cure" damn that's... nice. (Rolls my eyes) Whack It yep definitely IS their thing. To find out HawkMoth's identity well good luck you two. Why do I get the feeling Andrew will suspect Izzy of being Blair? I could so see it happening, not so far-fetched. LILA CALLED ANDREW I KNEW SHE WOULD! Izzy would think to kill Andrew for what? Trying to make a new friend in a girl that denies she needs a genuine true_ friend?!  
**Starskulls: Oh, I remember this girl. Always leaves this great and well thought out reviews, definitely deserves the cupcake. Enjoy! If you have any suggestions to make our story's summary more eye catching I'd definitely love to hear them! But don't worry about them handling the craziness, Izzy seems to come with her own brand of craziness anyway. And also while yes they are fine names, what's wrong with Blair? Why does everyone seem to have a problem with Blair's name, can't she just have a cute name that I like? I'd say Chloe and Lila are on an equal level of evil now, of course my co-author would disagree. Hopefully this chapter explained why Andrew was a bit nervous towards Izzy's reaction. Though I'm with Izzy, even if its a kind thing to do, Lila's chances of changing are very slim.  
W.R. Winters: I just was to say that Blair's Mischleaf is less of a Lucky Charm and more of an randomized arsenal of mayhem, unlike Ladybug's Lucky Charm Miscleaf has a chance of not working in the heroes favor and thus will have to cause them to adapt; and Ursa's 'Burdens Beared' is a power he has because the Ladybug isn't always going to be active so the Bear Miraculous needs something for all the property damage its strength causes. Great and well thought out review though, I like the feedback.**

_DragoonSensei:  
You have my attention._  
_I personaly like the name Blair but if you don't plan to keep it I vote for Miss Laveur.  
_**Starskulls: Well I'm glad SOMEONE likes it, because we aren't changing it! And i swear if one more reader questions that name...Anyway, I'm glad we have you attention, and what you have is a cupcake for reviewing!  
W.R. Winters: Don't mind her, she's annoyed from how many have questioned the name. Glad to have a new reader, hopefully you stick around and continue to review!**

* * *

**W.R. Winters: Well, that's everyone. Only 3 reviews...not gonna lie I'm a bit disappointed, but oh well. Feedback is still feedback.**

**Starskulls: And it's very appreciated. Hopefully you all thinked this chapter, leave a review with your thoughts and feedback and we'll respond to it in the next chapter! And of course, virtual cupcakes to all that review!**

**W.R. Winters: See you guys in two weeks for chapter 3, this is W.R. Winters and Starskulls, signing off.**


	3. Chapter 3

**There is an evil cackle as one of our authors is revealed to be completely decked out for the spooky season.**

**Starskulls: Happy Halloween dear viewers! Welcome to another chapter of Masks In the Shadows!**

**Meanwhile next to Starskulls, W.R. Winters wasn't dressed at all and looked quite done.**

**W.R. Winters: Must you remind everyone of what today is.**

**Sturskulls: Oh, come on, its Halloween, I know horror isn't your thing, but at least try to be a little bit scary.**

**W.R. Winters: Chat Blanc and Felix never airing.**

**Starskulls: ...I said be scary, not traumatizing.**

**W.R. Winters: Hey, you asked for it. You set yourself up for that one with how much you've been freaking out over those promotional trailers.**

**Starskulls: You were freaking out too when you saw them!**

**W.R. Winters: I know how to keep it bottled in though, I must remain professional in front of my audience after all.**

**Starskulls: *Rolls eyes* Let's just get the chapter rolling, 'your audience' is probably getting impatient.**

**W.R. Winters: Took the words right out of my mouth.**

**-*X*x*X*-**

**Recap of the last chapter: Andrew has begun his quest in getting to know and even befriend Lila, despite the objections from his friend Izzy, and is making very slow progress with her. Then the two friends began to discuss the new superheroes with Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino; which lead to a discussion on Paris' favorite ship 'LadyNoir' and the Oblivio kiss, as well as Andrew's distaste for just how much Alya posts on that blog. After a flashback detailing what Ursa and blair were up to during the events of Oblivio, the chapter leaves of with Marinette thinking about voicing her concerns about the new superheroes to Master Fu. **

* * *

CHAPTER 3: A Day of Surprises

* * *

After finishing her lunch, Marinette had excused herself to go to the bathroom. She wanted some privacy because she first wanted to discuss her plan and concerns about talking to Master Fu with Tikki, she wanted to make sure she was doing was a good idea.

"Marinette, are you sure it's a good idea to talk to the Great Guardian about this?" Tikka asked, concerned for her holder.

The teen sighed and let out a shrug, "I don't know, Tikki. There's just so much at stake here and I don't want to put Paris in any more danger than it already is, and I don't know what to do about Blair and Ursa. They seem like good people, but this is the longest someone new has had a miraculous…do you think that I might be putting too much thought into this?" Marinette asked. It was true, since Narcisse Ladybug had spoken to both Blair and Ursa. It was clear that Ursa was the more responsible one of the two while Blair was much more fun-loving, their dynamic sorta reminded her of how Ladybug and Chat Noir got along when they first started.

"I wish I could say for sure, but I know the Great Guardian and I trust his judgement. I'm sure he knows what he's doing, he's been doing this for much longer than you have after all," Tikki said, "But if you're truly that concerned about the new holders, then I can't stop you." She said.

Marinette sighed and rubbed her temples, "No, yeah, you're right. Master Fu trusts me, and I should trust his judgement. He's wise far beyond his years, which is really saying something. I should trust in his judgement and assume that he knows what he's doing," Marinette said.

There was a moment of silence before Tikki said something, "You still want to talk with him don't you,"

"I'm sorry," Marinette said with a grain as she buried her face in her hands, "It's not like I'm going to ask Master Fu to tell me Blair and Ursa's secret identities, if they are truly good people I don't want to put them in that kind of danger. I just want to know what their role is when it comes to all this, it would take a great deal off my mind," she said, "And not just me, I have no idea what Chat's thoughts are about all this, but I definitely don't want their presence to affect him in a bad way. What if Blair and Ursa are to help us deal with akumas, I don't want Chat to think that he isn't enough or that I'm replacing him or anything like that."

Tikki's expression morphed into a playful grin, "Weren't you the one that said that you'd want to trade partners with Blair a few days ago?"

"Only temporarily! And I didn't mean it, I was just annoyed at Chat's reaction to that dumb Oblivio photo," Marinette said defensively.

"I know, Marinette," Tikki giggled, "You can talk to the Guardian if it truly does bother you, but maybe first you can maybe wait a few days, get Chat Noir's opinion on this to see what he thinks. Then if you still think you need to, you can seek out the Great Guardian's counsel." Tikki suggested.

Marinette thought it over, after considering it she nodded, "Yeah, I think that'll work, thanks Tikki. I needed this," she said, kissing the top of the kwami's head. Just in time too because it was then the bell rang, ending lunch. Tikki flew into hiding and Marinette left the bathroom, thankful for the fact that no one had come in and overheard her.

* * *

-*x*X*x*-

* * *

It had been almost a week since Marinette and Tikki's discussion, and almost a week since she had made the decision to talk to Chat about her concerns about Ursa and Blair. Though the problem was there had been no Akuma attacks since she had made that decision, at least not until today.

"Miraculous Ladybug," the spotted superheroine shouted as she threw her Lucky Charm into the air. Her and Chat Noir has just finished fighting and defeating Onichan, and Ladybug couldn't remember the last time she was this glad to see Chat Noir.

She knows she makes a big deal out of keeping their identities secret for one another's safety, though she would be lying if she said that there weren't times where she wished that they could spend time together without there being an akuma to fight. So even if this akuma fight involved protecting perhaps her least favorite person Lila, and the akuma herself was one of the most intimidating girls she's ever met Kagami; she was glad to finally have the opportunity to talk to Chat now that the fight was over.

Ladybug rushed over to Chat, holding up her fist, "Pound it," she said, a bit happier than usual.

"I'll take her back home," Chat Noir said, completely leaving Ladybug hanging for their usual pound it. Had that ever happened before? Chat usually never blew her off like that. He picked up Kagami bridal style and smiled at her, "Keep an eye on Lila, she's as sly as a fox," he said, giving Lila a look before leaping away.

Still processing what was happening, Ladybug looked to the Italian, hands on her hips, "Your leg looks better," she said.

Glancing at her leg, Lila looked somewhat nervous at being caught, but she quickly recovered with putting on thankful face, "Oh, being around you superheroes has really toughened me up," she said.

Ladybug smiled, almost fighting a laugh, "You'll be okay to go home by yourself, then. You don't need me," she said before using her yo-yo to swing away in the direction Chat Noir went. Still trying to figure out why he blew her off the way he did, did he have a crush on Kagami? If so, maybe that could work out well for her, Kagami would get over Adrien and Chat could get over her. But there'd be time for that later. She had bigger priorities.

* * *

Ladybug found Chat not long after he dropped off Kagami, and he was definitely shocked when he saw her, "Hey Bugaboo, what's the matter? Can't get enough of me today?" He asked.

"Chat, we need to talk, it's important," Ladybug said, not having time to show her distaste towards that dumb nickname.

The flirty behavior dropped, "But…aren't you about to transform back?" He asked, pointing at her earrings.

Ladybug's hand reflexively went to her earrings, "I'll be fine, I still have a few minutes, but I don't know when the next attack will be and this can't wait until then," she said, "It's about Blair and Ursa,"

Chat extended his staff for him to lean against it, "I was wondering why we hadn't seen them today, we definitely could've used their assistance today. Did you collect their miraculous recently?"

"No, and that's why I wanted to discuss this with you," Ladybug said, "What do you think of them?"

Her partner shrugged, "Ursa can be a stick in the mud and can't seem to bear my hiss-terical puns, but he seems to be a good selfless guy and a great ally to have," he said, "Blair is a lot of fun, has a bunch of fun tricks, a source of good banter, and great company. But don't worry Bugaboo, you're still my #1 girl," he said with a wink, this time Ladybug rolled her eyes with a slight smile. "You still worried about them?"

"I don't know what to think about them, and that's the problem," Ladybug said with a sigh, "Not that I don't appreciate their help, believe me I do. It's just…"

Chat understood, remembering what Ladybug said to him the first day they met Ursa and Blair, "You just don't like taking chances like this when there's so much you don't know," he said, though he personally couldn't see what her problem was. She didn't have this many problems with Chloe having a miraculous, "So what are you going to do?" He was legitimately curious, because despite him knowing her well, he couldn't exactly read her thoughts.

"I want to discuss this with the Great Guardian, but I didn't want to go to him without talking to you to get your thoughts," Ladybug said.

Chat Noir beamed, "My Lady, the fact that you'd want to include me in something like this fills this cat with joy," he said.

Ladybug smiled, Chat could be such a dork sometimes, "Easy Kitty, I want to know what your thoughts are on talking to the Great Guardian about this. I'm only supposed to go to him when its important or if he wants to talk to me. Its important that Hawkmoth doesn't find him after all. I've talked to my kwami about this, but I want to hear what you have to say too for a second opinion. Am I blowing this out of proportion or is it something that I should go through with?"

"Well, I can see why you're conflicted about this," Chat Noir said, giving the question some serious thought. Ladybug was counting on him for some advice about this so he wanted to give her the answer she needed, "As I've said before after the Narcisse fight, I'm sure the Great Guardian has his reasons and as his students we should trust him, " he said, Ladybug didn't seem completely satisfied with that answer, "But you being all worked up about this is gonna be a purroblem because you won't be able to compawletely focus on fighting Hawkmoth. So if talking to him is going to ease your mind and worries. Then I think its worth it for you to talk to him."

Chat was very proud of himself for the smile that Ladybug gave him, "Thanks Kitty, I needed to hear that," she said, then she lifted a fist, "Pound it?"

Grinning, the cat-theme hero numbed her fist with his own, "Pound it, tell the Guardian hi for me," he said. Giggling Ladybug used her yo-yo to swing away while Chat Noir used his staff to pole vault towards home, personally hoping that Lila had decided to go home rather than going back to the Agreste Masion.

* * *

-*x*X*x*-

* * *

The next day after school, no amount of teasing could ruin Lila's mood. She had just finished talking with Adrien's father, Gabriel Agreste. But not only that, while at first it seemed like he wanted her to stay away from Adrien, but he actually wanted her to spend more time with Adrien and help him stay away from unworthy company! From what Lila knew about Gabriel he seemed like a hard man to impress, especially with how Adrien mentioned how he had scolded his two most loyal employees. Gabriel had ended the meeting by telling Lila that he'd be in touch and that they had important work to be done in the future.

* * *

Lila reached to the park that was next to her home, thinking about what Gabriel could possibly need from her in the future. Would he have her get rid of Chloe? She certainly didn't deserve to be Adrien's friend, and it would be some nice revenge for the past few weeks. There was also Marinette, Lila wondered if there was any way her alliance with Gabriel could help her with her war against her-

"Bark bark!"

Lila jumped and she turned to look in the direction of what had interrupted her thoughts, of course she wasn't able to get a good look before whatever it was was charging right at her and was soon running circles around her and moving between her legs. Definitely not wanting to step on whatever was at her feet, Lila tried to maneuver around it, "Okay, easy there, let me just…Whoa!" There was a streak of fur underneath where she was about to place her foot, and the reflex of quickly moving her foot back caused Lila to lose her balance and falling back and hard on her behind.

"Ow…" Lila said, of course she didn't have much time to dwell on the pain because now whatever had caused her to fall was now climbing on to her and was licking her face, "Ew, ew, stop it, down, cut it out!" Lila said, moving her face around to get it to stop. Eventually Lila was able grab the furry animal and pull it off her. Breathing a sigh of relief Lila looked to see who and what her attacker was.

It was a beagle, which Lila probably should've figured it was a dog from the licking. A lemon beagle to be more specific with a mostly white fur coat with golden patches all over its body, it had to still be a puppy because it wasn't that big. Its tail was wagging and its brown eyes were looking directly into hers as the black nose curiously sniffed her. Lila looked at the red collar the dog was wearing, hanging from the collar was a golden charm in the shape of an artist's palette with 'CD' carved into it, "CD, is that your name?" She asked. The dog's tail wagged faster and Lila smiled. Now that it wasn't attacking her face, she could tell that the dog was a real cutie, "Alright CD, nice to meet you, I'm Lila," she said as she put the dog down, "So, who do you belong to?" She asked as she noticed the leash that was attached to CD's collar, "Or who did you escape from would be a better question," she said with a laugh.

"CD! Where'd you go boy?"

…Lila sighed, "Oh course you belong to him," she said, recognizing the voice. She put CD down and grabbed his leash before getting up to her feet, "Over here, Book Boy," she said. She hadn't seen Andrew since their first hangout in the library, not that she'd been avoiding him, she just hadn't noticed him around.

From almost halfway across the park, Andrew approached her, though instead of his book his hand was holding some kind of case, "Hey, Lila, I was hoping to run into you. Also, have I ever told you how much I love your nickname for me?" Andrew asked. Lila felt tempted to laugh at that, but she swallowed the urge and offered the leash to the blonde. He accepted it before crouching down to put down the case and scoop up CD so that he was holding him with one arm and petting him with the other, "Not letting this troublemaker go exploring like that again. Thanks for catching him, I was walking him home and he just took off. He didn't bite you or anything, did he?" He asked.

"No, kinda tripped over him though, then he got up in my face," Lila said, "do you have anything I can use to wipe my face?"

Andrew chuckled, "Yeah, we're still trying to teach him about personal space bubbles," He said, looking down at the dog he was holding, who didn't seem to be paying attention. In fact, all CD seemed interested was licking and nibbling on Andrew's fingers.

Lila looked at the animal curiously…didn't that hurt?, "…You said you were hoping to run into me, why?" She asked, looking back up at him, half curious and the other half suspicious.

Andrew laughed, as if that was a stupid question to ask him, but his laughter died down when he say Lila's expression, "You serious?" He asked, Lila nodded, "Earlier at school, I heard about what happened between you and the akuma Onichan yesterday," he explained.

Lila sighed, "Let me guess, you thought it was me that got akumatized into Onichan?" She asked, crossing her arms. Andrew stopped petting CD to rub the back of his neck, laughing awkwardly. "Ugh, I cant believe you," Lila said, "And here I thought you saw the best in people," she said turning away from him.

"I won't lie…that thought had crossed my mind, yes," The blonde said as he moved so she'd be facing him again, "But I got the full story, I know that it wasn't you,"

"So what is it then…are you going to lecture me about how I caused someone to be akumatized? Because if you are, wouldn't that make you a bit of a hypocrite?" She asked. "And it wasn't even completely my fault someone got akumatized this time. How was I supposed to know that Adrien's fencing partner was in love with him and had jealousy issues?"

"Hypocritical is right, but I don't care if you call me a hypocrite. Though I probably wouldn't have such thoughts or need such lectures if it weren't for your track record," Lila rolled her eyes with a scoff, which the blonde was expecting, "As for me thinking you were the one Akumatized. It's a subconscious thing, its not like I have any control over it. When two things seem to happen a lot you tend to associate those things together. Like me with books, Izzy with science, Alya with her-" Andrew cut himself off and quickly moved on, "or Nino with DJ-ing, Kim with bets, Max with gaming, or-"

"Me with getting akumatized I get it," Lila said, and here she thought there was nothing that could make this day go wrong, "Well whatever the reason is, it shouldn't have taken you this long to find me then," Lila said, "We do go to the same school after all," she said.

"So? It's a big school and when you're lost in a good book its all you can do not to walk into a wall, and the school nurse says I can't do that anymore," he said, this time Lila bit her lip to keep from laughing, "Plus I'm a creature of habit, whether it be lunch, a free period, or after school; I automatically go to help out Miss Page with the library with the books-" Andrew stopped to take a moment to think, "Miss Page is our librarian…I live in that library, how is that only just now occurring to me? I mean I know I'm an idiot, but I'm not this big of an idiot," Lila snorted, it was getting harder and harder not to laugh, "…Anyway, getting back on track. Yes, when I heard 'Lila' and 'Akuma' I was afraid you had been akumatized again, its like when you hear something about Chloe and Akumas, part of you automatically assumes she's the cause of it. I mean sure 99% of the time they're right, but still."

This time Lila couldn't hold back her laughter, "Yeah, that's true," she said, was Andrew this funny during their first hangout at the library? "Is there an end to this story or are you gonna ramble again?" She asked, this time with a smile.

"Hopefully I get to the end, for future reference if I start to do it again, please stop me. It's a habit I'm trying to break," Andrew said. Good to know Lila had one way to shut him up, "But either way, getting back to my main point, whether you being the akuma or the akuma going after you. Regardless, when I heard the news, I wanted to make sure you were alright." He finished.

Lila's expression went to one of shock and she could only blink, "…Huh?"

"Yeah, I was worried about you. I know that Ladybug and Chat Noir saved you and protected you of course, and any physical injuries would've been healed by the Miraculous Cure, but are you okay? Getting chased around Paris by a Japanese demon couldn't have exactly been a walk in the park." Andrew explained. It was silent for a moment.

Here in front of her was a guy she only met a few weeks ago, a guy that she's had very little interaction with, and yet here he was showing her a level of genuine concern she'd only expect from her mom…Just who was this guy? "Why?" Lila asked, "Why would you, of all people, be worried about me?"

Andrew shrugged, "Who knows, Izzy wonders the exact same thing. Even I ask myself that question. Maybe I'm just too nice for my own good. Also, you're at a point in your life where you could use a real friend. And now that I've resolved my current problems with you and now that people know your true nature," Lila found it very 'reassuring' to know that the bookworm was taking pity on her, "Maybe that friend can even be a loser like me," he said, "And that's what friends do, right? Worry and check on one another?"

The Italian girl blinked as she felt a warmth fill her chest and cheeks, "Well…um…" clearing her throat she looked for anything that could change the subject or give her an excuse to leave, "Why do you have that case?" She asked. It was weird seeing him without his book, and she was curious about what was it it.

"That? It's my violin case, I was going to practice outdoors, but then this little guy took off and-"

Andrew started to say, but then he was interrupted by Lila suddenly getting super close, "You play the violin?!" Lila exclaimed, her eyes lit up with an excitement that Andrew had never seen before from her, and least not when she was around him.

"…Yeah, since I was six, though I don't bring it up a lot since I'm a bit more passionate about my writing and painting," he said cautiously as he took a step back to put some space between them. That reaction was definitely something Andrew took note of...perhaps this had potential, "Do you like the violin?"

"Do I!" Lila said as if it was obvious, "I've wanted to play violin for as long as I can remember, my mom even tried to arrange for me to be tutored by Professor Reed Davies!"

The name caused Andrew to raise his eyebrows, "Really, Reed Davies?" He asked, he knew the name well. Not just because he was a very well known musician that was a master of multiple different instruments – the most well known of which being violin and piano. He was also a professional music tutor, and taught music classes at a university, but he also knew the name well because Reed Davies was his dad.

She was probably lying, as usual, but she seemed far too excited to lie, so Andrew had an idea, "You must be pretty good then. Perhaps you could play me something?"

Lila's excitement died very quickly, "Well, I'd like to, but…I don't know how to play," she said.

Now Andrew was a bit confused. No lies about she had a bad wrist and couldn't play or that she didn't have any pieces memorized and wouldn't have anything to preform? She just…admitted to not knowing?

Lila must've caught his expression and shrugged, "Like I said, my mom tried to arrange it, it just never happened. I guess he just didn't have the time to teach me. I was young and stubborn, I didn't want to learn from anyone else, so I never learned to play." She laughed, "I know It sounds dumb, but whatever."

"I see," the blonde said it was definitely perhaps the most believable thing to come out of Lila's mouth. He looked between the case and the girl in front of him, an idea forming in his head, "You know, I can teach you how to play if you'd like," Now he seemed to have the Italian's attention, "If you're more open to someone that isn't a renowned musician teaching you, of course. It can be a part of our morning meetings before school if you want to start those again." Andrew offered.

First a meeting with Gabriel Agreste, and then all this with Andrew? Lila's day was just full of surprises.

"But, if you still have too busy of a schedule then I understand," Andrew said with a bit of a cheeky grin as he put down CD and picked up his violin case, still keeping a firm grip on the dog's leash, "You don't have to give my offer an immediate answer, you're probably juggling a lot right now, but you have my number if something opens up." He said with a wink.

On the inside Lila was bubbling with excitement, but on the outside she kept herself composed, "I will consider it, but for now its probably time I go home, my mom will probably be wondering where I am." If she was even home, which chances are she wasn't. She said that she'd be home this weekend, but that was unlikely.

"Well then, I guess as your friend its only right that I walk with you the rest of the way home," Andrew said, "Wouldn't want you to cause another Akuma and get chased around Paris again."

There was the Andrew Lila was used to, "And what are you gonna do against an Akuma?" Lila asked, crossing her arms, "You're not exactly the toughest guy on the block,"

"Well I'll probably do nothing except fall under the Akuma's control or run away, but who would wanna mess with this fearsome beast?" he said as he gestured down to CD, who was now chasing his tail. Lila smiled, but rolled her eyes as she started walking out of the park, the blonde bookworm soon catching up to her. Maybe Andrew wasn't Adrien, but she guessed that he wasn't that bad.

* * *

Andrew didn't talk much when walking Lila home, not just because she only lived across the street from the park, but also because he was thinking about the conversation he just had with Lila. In that one conversation, which couldn't have been more than five minutes, he made more progress with Lila than he had during the two periods of attempted conversation he had tried with her the previous week. He definitely did something right this time, hopefully he could remember to hang onto that something.

* * *

Once the teens were at Lila's home she opened the door, but before she went inside she turned towards the others, "It was nice to run into you," Lila said, but before Andrew could say anything her gaze went down to his feet, "But maybe next time we run into each other your dorky owner won't be around." She said.

"Wow, Lila, that's just cold," Andrew said.

"Lila, is that you? I hear voices."

"Mom, you're home?" The Italian was surprised, so her mom was home…that wasn't an everyday occurrence. Behind her Andrew raised an eyebrow, didn't Lila just say that her mom would be wondering where she was? He shook his head disapprovingly at what he now knew was another lie, probably to get him to leave her alone, not that Lila could see it, "Yeah it's me," she said as her mother came to the door, "I thought you said you wouldn't be home until the weekend," she asked as her mother gave her a hug.

"I know I've been away at work a lot lately, but I was able to get some time to come home early so I could spend time with my precious little angel," her mother said, kissing her cheek. Lila returned the hug, it definitely was nice to have some more time with her before she went off to the embassy again, "Oh, who's this nice young man with you?" Her mother asked, braking the hug. Lila looked over her shoulder, Andrew was still here?

"Oh, Mom, this is-" she started to say, but Andrew began to speak.

"You must be Mrs. Rossi, I'm Andrew, I go to Lila's school," he said with a smile.

Her mother's smile grew, "Oh, you must be the boyfriend I keep hearing so much about," she said, "I could've sworn your name was Adrien though…my apologies I must've misheard."

Lila wasn't sure if she was flushing or paling from embarrassment, she was about to correct her mother, but Andrew started talking again, "It's fine, don't worry. Adrien, Andrew, they do sound pretty similar," he said, his grin letting Lila know he was enjoying this, "Well, glad I could meet you Mrs. Rossi,"

"Oh the pleasure is all mine! I'm just glad to finally have a face to match up with all the wonderful things Lila's told me about you,"

"Mom!" Lila groaned, she really wished her mother would stop talking.

Andrew's grin grew bigger, "Really?" He gave Lila a look, "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Lila, I think its adorable," he said.

Lila glared at Andrew, "You zip it," she said, which only got a laugh out of her mother.

"Don't you two make the cutest couple," she said.

Andrew laughed, "I think so too," he said, winking at Lila, "Well, I should get going. Again, it was a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Rossi," he said before turning to his 'girlfriend', "I'll see you at school, Lila, kiss goodbye?"

"You get out of here!" Lila said, her face on fire as she pushed her mother inside and slammed the door shut.

Chuckling, Andrew began to walk away, making sure he wasn't moving too quickly so CD wouldn't fall behind, "Cub, are you sure that was a good idea?" Andrew didn't stop walking as the brown bear kwami flew out of one of the pockets of his leather jacket, "Don't you think she'll try to use this against you?"

"You mean the assumption?" Andrew asked, the kwami nodded, "Grizz, even if she did, who's going to believe that she's dating a 'loser' like me? Especially since Alya sourced me on her blog as the person that told her about her lies," She didn't even ask him if he wanted to be mentioned in her blog, if Andrew wanted to be famous in school he would've preferred that it be for his art or writing, "It was just a bit of fun, and knowing Lila, she'll probably want to forget it as soon as possible." He said as he pulled out his phone, he wanted to check something.

* * *

After a brief search through his contacts he dialed the number he was looking for, it rung two times before a voice of his dad Reed answered, _"Hey Drewster, sorry I can only talk for a few minutes. I've got a music lesson starting soon."_

"Oh, don't worry, this shouldn't take long. Just wanted to ask you something. I actually have a question about people that you may or may not have tutored a few years ago," Andrew said, "Dad, does the name 'Rossi' sound familiar to you at all?"

_"Hmmm, let me think…"_ Reed said, _"I think so, just a moment,"_ Andrew heard something that may have been typing, _"Yes, here we go. A Francesca Rossi emailed me a few years ago wanting me to tutor her daughter in violin. The daughter would be your age, very persistent woman, now that I think about it I think I think she even called me multiple times until I said yes."_

Andrew perked up, "You said yes?" Why would Lila lie about that? "You'd think I would've met her by now since we're both violinists," he said.

_"Yes, you probably would've, but her family cancelled her lessons before they began,"_ Reed said, _"I was surprised given how much Francesca persisted, but I got a call from the girl's father saying that their daughter wanted nothing to do with the violin anymore so I shouldn't bother scheduling any lessons for something she's just going to hate."_ Reed said, _"Was that all you wanted to know?"_

Andrew nodded, even though he knew his dad couldn't see him, "Yeah, that's all, see ya Dad, bye," he said before hanging up, "Her father huh…" he said to himself, he could think further on that later. What was important was that Lila was honest with him, they were making progress.

* * *

"Thank you for coming by," Master Fu said to his current customer as he walked them to the door, "Remember, only take the remedy three times a day. And if you try not to work that shoulder for a while, you should be back to work in no time," he said as he opened the door, revealing Marinette who jumped, her fist in the air as if she was about to knock.

"Really I could go all day about why I should be thanking you, Mr. Chan, "The customer said with a chuckle, "But I see your granddaughter is coming by to visit you, so I'll get out of your hair," the customer said, bowing to both of them before walking past Marinette.

Marinette looked at Master Fu, "If it means anything, Master. You don't look old enough to be my grandfather," she offered.

The Guardian chuckled, "Come on in Marinette, I'll make some tea," he said.

* * *

Marinette sat in silence as Master Fu worked on the tea, wondering how she should begin to talk about this, "Something is troubling you," Marinette looked to see the turtle kwami Wayzz, "Is everything alright?"

"Well, Wayzz, I did have a feeling that this wasn't a social visit," Master Fu said as he carried the tray over to where she was sitting.

"Sorry, Master, its not that I don't enjoy your company. Believe me, I do, its just that-"

"You have nothing to apologize for Marinette, as the last remaining Great Guardian I'm sure Tikki has told you that coming to me was for matter of great importance only," Fu said, briefly looking to Tikki, "So what's troubling you, is it Hawkmoth, is there something wrong with your miraculous or Chat's?" He asked, taking on a more serious tone as he handed her a cup of tea.

"No, actually its about…Ursa and Blair," Marinette said, when Fu didn't say anything she continued, "It's kind of stupid really, but I just don't know what to think about them, I don't know why they're still active. Not that they're not bad people, they're great, but normally when you hand out a miraculous you usually want it returned almost immediately, but clearly Ursa and Blair are still out there, so what makes these two different? Why them and not Carapace and Rena Rouge? I don't know what their role is in the fight against Hawkmoth, they helped us deal with Narcisse, but that's it. They haven't helped us with any of the akuma attacks since then. Chat Noir and have run into them once or twice while on patrol, but theres just so much I don't know here," Marinette said, putting the cup of tea down, "Of course I'm not asking you to reveal their identities, that'd be like asking you to tell me Chat Noir's identity, but I just need to know something _anything_ you can tell me about them because its all I can think about when I transform or hear about Ursa and Blair putting more criminals behind bars, which don't get me wrong I really appreciate them making Paris safer-"

"Breathe Marinette, breathe," Tikki said, noticing that Marinette was going blue in the face.

Marinette took a few deep breaths, "Like I said, its stupid and I'm blowing this all out of proportion, I've talked to Tikki about it, I've talked to Chat Noir about it…" she sighed. Before burying her face in her hands, "Apparently third time's the charm also applies to realizing how dumb you sound."

"I say its quite the opposite," Fu said, Marinette looked up confused, and the proud smile on Fu's face certainly didn't help, "You had a concern about your teammates, and rather than shoving those concerns aside and just blindly trusting them, you voiced your concerns to your kwami, then made sure Chat Noir knew about your concerns which shows him how much you trust his input and opinion, and only after carefully considering both their thoughts and even questioning your own thoughts did you come to me for answers," Fu said, "When I was your age I never would've been able to go through all that if I had been put in a similar situation."

Marinette opened her mouth to say something, but it was only after a while that the words finally came out, "Was this a test? Was picking Blair and Ursa and letting them keep their miraculous a test to see how Chat and I would react to new teammates that weren't temporary?" She picked up her cup and began to drink her tea.

"You can see it that way if you'd like," Fu said, drinking some of his tea, "The truth is, I have been carefully considering handing out the Bear and Raccoon Miraculous to a pair of worthy holders ever since your fight with Hawkmoth on Heroes' Day. And while I won't say who they are, who Ursa and Blair are underneath the masks are someone I've kept my eye on for a while, as for their role in the grand scheme of things. They're here to help," he said, "I've tasked Blair and Ursa with protecting the people of Paris, but their responsibility will be from the shadows taking care of the non-Akuma threats so that you and Chat Noir can focus on defeating Hawkmoth. They're also a last resort to call upon should any akuma threats be too much for you and Chat Noir to handle in the future."

With a giant sigh of relief, Marinette smiled, a large weight coming off her shoulders, "I'm so glad to finally have that taken care of," she said, putting her cup back down, "I'll be sure to let Chat Noir know, thank you Master," she said, bowing respectfully before she and Tikki walked towards the door.

"Take care Marinette," Fu said with a kind smile before Marinette left, closing the door behind her.

* * *

Once Wayzz was sure Marinette was out of earshot he turned toward his holder, "If Blair and Ursa's presence is causing all this, perhaps maybe it isn't their time?" the kwami suggested.

"Marinette is still learning, she and her partner already have a lot weighing down on their plate for their age, adding more stuff is bound to cause turmoil," Fu said, "Hence why I trusted Blair and Ursa to help them lift that weight, we will remain cautious and watchful, but for now. There is no cause for worry." At least Master Fu hoped there wasn't any more cause for worry.

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

**Starskulls: Not exactly the most Halloween-y episode.**

**W.R. Winters: That's because we weren't planning this to be uploaded on Halloween, that's just how it worked out.**

**Starskulls: I know, but still. I need more spooky in my life!**

**W.R. Winters: Well, you won't get that from me. So, now that we got this chapter out, how about you get your cupcakes ready.**

**Starskulls: Yay! Fan mail time!**

* * *

_Animegamefanatic:  
lol Izzy and Andrew so remind me of knuckles and rogue; Knuckles is a tough guy, but likes to see good in everyone, and Rogue more mischivious but a realist - I take it Izzy's protective of_ Andrew.  
**Starskulls: Haha, never heard that comparison before, but I can see it. And you bet she is! With that akuma-attracting-she-devil lurking around someone has to look out for him! Thanks for reviewing again, enjoy your second cupcake.  
****W.R. Winters: I won't give any spoilers, but you'll definitely get a good taste of just how protective Izzy is of Andrew.**

_Shadow Stalker (Guest):  
I expect nothing of this show and I am still let down. LoveEater was not too bad but Miracle Queen was just boring and predictable. I read many theories that were better than what happened. The whole season was basically "filler" and in the last episode they try to create "hype" for the next season. To be honest, the end of season 2 felt more epic even though the Statu Quo remains. And what the hell are they trying to do with Chloe? Are they trying to subvert expectations or what? Even My Little Pony knows how to handle its characters better. I don't even care what happens anymore. Although it would be fun to see Chloe become something like Garou (One Punch Man).  
_**Starskulls: Not sure what that has to do with the chapter, but hey, we all have our own opinions after all. And leaving a review still gets you a cupcake! Yeah I personally think, from what we've seen at least, that Chat Blanc and Felix would've been a much better choice for the finale episodes. And yeah Chloe is definitely all over the place when it comes to her redemption, but that could just be part of what makes her a (partially) complex character.  
W.R. Winters: Predictable you say? Personally there were multiple things about MQ that took me by surprise, but hey, to each their own. I've never seen My Little Pony so I cannot confirm or deny your claim on how well they handle their characters. Also at least to me it seems that the Status Quo seems to have changed significantly with Marinette being the new Great Guardian, no more Master Fu, Hawkmoth knowing the identities of multiple superheroes (who we'll now never be able to use those miraculous again), the peacock miraculous seemingly been repaired, Chloe now hating Ladybug, and the Love Square (for now) being set aside in favor of Lukanette and Adrigami...so yeah I'd say that Season 4 has been built up to be a very interesting/epic season.**

_DragoonSensei:  
__Nice chapter_  
_I like that you give a bit hope for Lila, Andrew is a nice guy and I'm a fan of slow and true reformations._  
_Even if I would love to throw her down from the top of the Eiffel tower._  
_The episode Oblivio was a realy big mess._  
_Alya have the mentality of a paparazzi not a journalist, in season 3 that got realy clear._  
_For some reason I want Izzy to dress as a witch for Halloween and sing the Pumpkin song from Soul_ Eater.  
**Starskulls: Ooh, I like the Soul Eater part, and that's not that bad of an idea, especially with it being Halloween! And I'll be right next to you on top of that tower watching her fall! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and that we have continued to have your attention, that's a cupcake for you!  
****W.R. Winters: You and I are in the same boat, I'm a sucker for a good redemption arc. Also, despite my co-author not wanting thinking so, I do believe that Lila has some hope for a future redemption (unlike Chloe who at this point has destroyed her chances of redemption in my opinion). I highly doubt Lila's redemption will happen, but hey, I can dream. And that's what fic writing is for!**

_Pounce (Guest):  
I mean this is ok but..._  
_Jddkshjslnxn  
_**Starskulls: I'm not sure what you mean specifically...but the review is still appreciated!**  
**W. : Indeed, so enjoy your cupcake and hopefully you keep reading.**

_Pinksakura271:  
Starskulls don't worry I will try to remind our Wolfie again. ;) He's cutely forgetful it happens. About lack of reviews I agree it's disappointing. People are to lazy to leave a word OR they just don't care too. THANK YOU FOR THE CUPCAKE AND REVIEW RESPONSE YOU TWO!_  
_FINALLY... Adrien is giving Kagami her chance. Kitty deserves hiss happiness. Beautiful work Kagami I'm so rooting for you. (Tho I know it's pointless too) Cattastic Kitty Cat Noir NOT calling Ladybrat M'Lady had me jumping up and down in pure joy._  
_Okay now to business YOUR SUMMARY is this - Everyone knows about Ladybug and Chat Noir, the heroes in the spotlight. Responsible for protecting the people of Paris from Hawkmoth's Akumas, but there's more than just them. Heroes that aren't in the public eye, working discreetly to help your heroes bear the burden that is protecting Paris. This is their story. Co-written by W. R. Winters and Starskulls (Features OCs) -_  
_I have been thinking and jumping ideas on it: - Once in Paris your caught in magic that's just punderful, beautiful and plain Miraculous. Ladybug and Cat Noir are the Lucky Duo well known. Fighting to keep their home safe from HawkMoth's dark and crazy akumas. Yet what is life without a honey drop of mischief? Two heros discreetly help our Lucky Duo after all it's got to unbearable to deal with everything. This is where the Bear and Raccoon partners come into play. Co-written by W. R. Winters and Starskulls (Features OCs) Why not right?! -_  
_ON TO MY REVIEW: Another stupid shirt thing? Diamond stickers with the words "Lila Liar" really people, for most of you to believe in those lies than a truth bomb blows in your faces... WHOM ARE THE TRUE IDIOTS?! Your all worse for making it this fire grow more, stop putting gas on it! Izzy having to give her science notes up and Ms Mendeleiev as a witness well sorry Izzy. Threatened with getting expelled? Huh bad track consider you just started there. (Giggles) _  
_Yes Andrew the library incident, hello you could have taken Lila aside to talk. Instead you do the opposite. Seriously why are people whining about Lila's overzealous lying anyway? It's the stupid sad cliché: A misunderstood teenager lies to make themselves seem better in peers eyes at school. I mean it's been done so many crazy times, so what? What matters is how the misunderstood teenager handles the consequences it's result of exposure weather good or bad. Really Lila's taking it like a champion. She hasn't been akumaitized again, she's somewhat has a friend in Andrew and most of all Lila's NOT showing how the students 180 degree change to her is truly hurting her._  
_Calm down the inner bear Andrew. Now Lila you know deep down Cat Noir, Ursa and Blair AREN'T LOSERS! Wait you what, Andrew really book boy that wasn't intelligent. Bring you Lila's akumaitizion, horrible choice topic. Now Lila again BOOKAHOLICS AREN'T LOSERS! Right Lila, Andrew is making the affect to reach a hand out DON'T smack it away, grab on to it. (PLATONICALLY SPEAKING)! Izzy scaring Andrew when she popped up - An angel with devil horns if you will.- huh us girls are like that thank you. It's beautiful compliment truly. (Smug Smirk)_  
_Andrew caught in between a cat fight. A male near comes out of that alive. (Giggles) Izzy why say anything huh? Lila started this argument yes but you gave her what she wanted a raise out of you. Izzy you would have been more effective if you didn't react especially NOT negativity. Izzy trying to make a friend is never a waste of time. Heading to a group lunch cute, distaste no it's worse Césaire's blog is a nuisance. Here we go again, Lila and Izzy now Alya and Cholè what are the girls your cycles linked up! _  
_\- Nino cowered slightly and Adrien tried his best not to look uncomfortable. - Damn I'm sorry you two. Huh not a bad idea Andrew. Izzy Miss Chief of Crime, yea paw-issble fanfic theory?! Discussing ChatBug shipping, oh Adrien I'm sorry but no. I don't at all, love is about give AND take Kitty is the one giving Ladybrat's not trying at least not romantically. Good move Andrew, NO DISRESPECT TO CATTASTIC KITTY CAT NOIR IS RIGHT! Otherwise anyone including you Bear Armstrong would be STABBED TO DEATH BY ME! _  
_Adrien enjoying a slice of pizza always a cute sight. (Sweet Smile) Dupain-Cheng clench your fits and roll her eyes secretly all you want. Ladybrat will understand her mistake to Kitty furrey soon Dupain-Cheng. Andrew angry could be fun. The flashback was nice. So Ladybrat off to see Master Fu (Deep Sigh) Looks like two weeks I'm going to be_ annoyed.  
**Starskulls: I was looking forward to another detailed review from you, so you get a special cupcake! I assume the first part of your review is talking about the finale? Lots of finale talk today, which I'm okay with. Hmmm...we'll have to think about it with your summary suggestion, but we will get back to you on that. Well, that's what happens when you found out you've been lied to, and for so long as well. The more lies you tell the greater the backfire once the truth eventually gets out. Telling lies to get attention is one thing, but Lila has done far more than that to deserve the hate she's received. But still, appreciate the details in your reviews and I look forward to your next one!  
****W.R. Winters: Maybe Andrew could've handled it better, but the kid's 14, and its also been established that while he is a bookworm, he's also a bit of an idiot. So you can't honestly have expected him to get it completely right. Yes we're all aware of your worship of Chat Noir no need to threaten violence over someone possibly having a different opinion. Actually with how things ended up in the finale, it's up for debate as to if Marinette truly will have regrets. Let's see if you were annoyed with this chapter.**

_Bunnywabbit29:  
great! *sigh* andrew is too nice. _  
_alya does post everything. she needs to fix it.  
_**Starskulls: Yeah, probably. But hey, who says that's a bad thing? even if he is applying that niceness to Lila.** **Yeah, Alya does go too far at times, but at least she's getting some real on the job training for the future should she decide to become an actual reporter! Thanks for the review, enjoy your cupcake!  
W.R. Winters: Yeah, especially with Alya throwing herself in danger to get the latest on the akuma attacks, maybe she should take a break from her blog, but we all know that isn't going to happen. Well, you know what they say about nice guys...I have no idea where I was going with that.**

* * *

**Starskulls: How many reviews was that?...6, hey that's double what the last chapter got! let's see if we can keep uping the review numbers and get 9 reviews on this chapter!**

**W.R. Winters: You are not setting a review goal.**

**Starskulls: Why not? I think they can do it!**

**W.R. Winters: Alright, if you say so, hopefully y'all enjoyed this chapter. Be sure to leave a review on what you liked and didn't like.**

**Starskulls: Cupcakes to all that review, and happy Halloween!**

**W.R. Winters: This is Starskulls and W.R. Winters, signing off.**


	4. Chapter 4

**W.R. Winters: Hello everyone and welcome back to 'Masks In the Shadows'.**

**Starskulls: We've really been killing it with this chapter upload schedule, knock on wood.**

**W.R. Winters: Oh great, now that you've said that the next chapter is gonna be late, you just had to jinx us didn't you.**

**Starskulls: I knocked on wood, we're fine. But anyway, before we get on with the next chapter. Felix and Chat Blanc are out, which means all of season 3 has been released!**

**W.R. Winters: Yeah, that's crazy, and who knows how long it'll be before we get the next episode of season 4. But hey, and least the season ended with a bang with some very good episodes.**

**Starskulls: Understatement of the year, they were amazing! Chat Blanc was super well done and filled with emotion, and Felix was an episode that left you thinking!**

**W.R. Winters: Indeed, but for now lets just the readers something else to think about and just give them the chapter they're here for.**

**-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

_**Recap of the last chapter: Marinette, still having concerns about Blair and Ursa and wanting to discuss things with Master Fu, first decided to talk things over with Tikki, who then suggested that she then talked to her partner about this to get an additional opinion. Chat Noir told Ladybug that if it were to ease her mind then talking to Master Fu was definitely worth it. Meanwhile Andrew got another chance to interact with Lila, after introducing her to his dog CD, and believes that he may have found a way in when it comes to getting to know her, the violin. Though after meeting Lila's mother, Andrew decided to have a bit of fun after she mad the assumption that he was Lila's boyfriend, maybe it was a bad idea, but Andrew figured that it was fine. The chapter then ended with Marinette discussing the two newest holders with Master Fu, he explained what their part was in all this, and that Marinette shouldn't feel bad for asking questions.**_

* * *

CHAPTER 4: Time To Plant Seeds

* * *

An alarm blared off which was the abruptly smashed by a fist. Izzy poked her head from out of her colourful sheets with a massive bed head. She practically rolled out of bed and checked her phone. No messages. Great. Oh wait, no it wasn't. Andrew hadn't been messaging her as much. Granted she knew he was just as busy as everyone else and couldn't talk every time she wanted him too. She had to blinked as she looked around her room. While she wasn't the messiest, colour splats and burnt patches were everywhere around the room as well as an assortment of chemicals and beakers and burners were on her desk. She really needed to sort that. Quickly pulling on her clothes and grabbing her bag. She headed down to the kitchen, where her four older brothers were seated.

"Do you guys have to do that?" Izzy said as she rubbed the side of her head.

"Yeah we do!" Alex, the eldest said as he lifted his dumbbell. He was currently in college and was the star of the football team. Izzy had been to his games. Frankly she didn't see what all the fuss was about. Brown hair and brown eyes; a complete chick magnet in his classes.

"We have to prepare for our games and events!" Jack said in agreement as he chugged back his protein shake of bananas and broccoli. Star runner of his track team. Also, a chick magnet with his black hair and brown eyes. Second oldest.

"Yes, but there is a protocol called basic hygiene!" Izzy snapped back as she grabbed a piece of toast and juice that wasn't sweated on yet.

"Oh please, you're no better, I've seen your room," Ryland commented with a sneer. He was currently polishing his hockey stick with the kitchen tea towel. He was the most arrogant and the third eldest of the four. Being another chick magnet with green eyes and curly black hair did not make up for the fact that he had hit her with that stick multiple times.

"What were you doing in my room?" Izzy said in annoyance.

"Going through your stuff," Jason said with a shrug as he shinned his basketball.

Youngest of the four so he was deemed the cute one with the brown hair and brown eyes. It didn't help that all of them were completely ripped. Izzy hated everything about athletes at school and college. Her brothers were no better than the athletes who thought they were superior. Did they care about her? Yes? Did they show it? Nope. Did they take an interest? Big no.

"Why were you going through my stuff?" Izzy asked.

"We needed to pass classes and your homework was what we needed," Jack said without looking at her. Izzy's eyes were blazing.

"That's my work! God, you're idiots!" Izzy shouted.

"Oh please, we are the stars of our classes," Ryland said.

"So am I," Izzy countered. Her brothers laughed.

"Science doesn't count. You can't use it to win games or make it useful," Jason said with a smirk. Izzy's pulse on her forehead ticked.

"Oh yes I forgot. You guys are just bumbling muscled idiots while I have the real muscle which is called a brain. Do you understand what I am saying you dumb morons?" Izzy said slowly. Her brothers looked offended and were about to throw their equipment at her until a loud whistle echoed through the room.

"Alright team! No hassle before the big games!" a woman with a large muscled build said as she came into the room. This was Izzy's mother, Jayne. She was the college sports coach, but she didn't go easy on her sons. She was a star athlete in many sports too, so she was no pushover. Long curly black hair in a ponytail with dark brown eyes.

"Yes ma'am!" the boys all yelled.

"Morning ma'am," Izzy said wearily. Her mother had said being called 'mum' or 'mummy' made her feel old, so she had insisted on 'ma'am'.

"Morning Izzy. Ready for school?" she asked.

"Yes. Hey uh in fact on this test, I got…" Izzy started but her mother cut her off.

"That's great! Now boys. I want you to go out and run ten laps before we head out. Now!" she said as she blew her whistle.

"Yes ma'am," the boys all yelled again as they got up and headed outside, leaving Izzy alone in the kitchen.

"Bye then!" Izzy called out sarcastically.

"Lovely morning eh sweetie?" a warm voice said. Izzy turned to see her father, David, now standing beside her. He was wearing a black suit and had on glasses. His eyes were a brilliant green and he had soft brown hair. He was a maths professor at college. Needless to say, that Izzy got along more with her father.

"Oh, it's a delight," Izzy said with a sarcastic smile. David chuckled and wrapped his arm around her and gave her a hug.

"So, you got full marks on the test?" he asked.

"Of course," Izzy grinned.

"That's my girl," David said as he kissed her forehead. "I have to get to class, but I'm interested to see what you're learning. We can have a chat tonight if you'd like."

"I'd like that, thanks Dad," Izzy said cheerfully as she took a sip of her juice and waved her father goodbye as she headed outside for school.

* * *

Izzy was now again in her cosy corner of the science lab. She had of course done the homework; it was just a place she went to if she needed to vent or needed to cool down. She was currently trying to create a glitter explosion that was trickier to wash off clothes. She was not having a good week. First of all, while she was quick happy to keep Chloe at bay with her colourful insults, no amount of insults could keep Lila's mouth shut. Granted she was happy that the lies were not going to people's heads anymore; that didn't stop her from being a liar and causing people to be akumatised. Honestly, why wasn't she just kicked out of school already. She was on the verge of being the person who was the most akumatised and also someone who was going to cause more akumas!

"Mmmm… maybe I could blast her out of school…" Izzy said to herself.

"Ooh I'd love that!" Jinxx said as she popped out of Izzy's tutu.

"I know, you could launch them from the sky, so people won't think it's me!" Izzy replied.

"That's genius! I'm rubbing off on you!" Jinxx said and Izzy grinned.

"Or am I rubbing off on you?" she said and Jinxx stuck out her little tongue. She lit up some magnesium to test the results for some extra credit she was doing.

You know. To be a teacher's pet. Not that she was picked on her for it, but for the nerds who were jerks, it was good to rub it in their faces. People often forgot that nerds could be mean too. Not to mention scary. When someone cheated on a test in class, no one could leave until the culprit was found. Turns out it has been a football player and the nerds had practically made him cry. She would love to see that happen to her brothers. Not to be mean but maybe to take them down a peg.

"Miss Jones?" Ms Mendeleiev called as she poked her head around the corner of the door. Izzy turned her head slightly. Thankfully, Jinxx flew back into the pink tutu of Izzy.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I'm about to teach another class in here, I'm afraid you're going to have to leave. You're more than welcome to come back here at the end of the day or at lunch," she said. Izzy sighed and closed her book.

"Yeah okay," she said. Great, now she needed to go somewhere else to vent. Maybe Andrew was in the library.

"Is everything okay?" Ms Mendeleiev asked, noticing her downcast look.

"Oh yes, everything is fine," Izzy said cheerily.

Lying. It only took her five minutes to clear up her stuff but as soon as she exited the room, she felt like she was going to throw up. She had an English class to get to, but she wasn't at all eager to go and she had no idea why. The corridors started to fill up. She checked her phone to see if Andrew had texted her to meet up. No such luck.

"Hey, did you hear that Lila is seeing another guy?" someone said. Oh great, just what she needed. An annoying ear lie worm for the morning. She ignored it.

"Yeah, she has two boyfriends! What are their names again? I'm sure one is Adrien, right?" their friend replied and earning an eyeroll from Izzy.

"Yeah, I think the other one is…the guy who hangs out in the library a lot," came the answer. Whoa, hit on the brakes! Izzy's eyes widened as she prayed that the name was not who she was thinking of.

"Andrew, I think his name is?" the voice said.

Bombs went off in Izzy's mind. Missiles were fired. Screams went off. And finally, much like cartoon characters, a red line started to trail up her body until steam came out of her ears. People actually started to steer away from her now that an ominous aura was pulsating from her.

"That's it, I'm going to kill him. Not before I kill her!" she seethed. With that thought in mind, she stomped off to class.

* * *

Everyone was piling in for English class. Marinette took her usual spot next to Alya. Her mind was still processing what Master Fu said to her. While her mind was at rest, there was that little nagging voice. She really needed to turn that voice off.

"You okay Marinette, you seem a little spaced out," Adrien said as Marinette blinked twice before nearly falling out of her seat.

"Yes! Yes-uh I'm fine just uh a little…tired!" she said nervously. Adrien laughed a little at her response, causing her to blush. Alya laughed at her friend's response. Andrew then came into the classroom, followed by Lila.

"Hey guys!" Andrew said cheerfully.

Lila barely gave them a glance but gave Adrien a flirty smile. Adrien waved at her awkwardly with a smile while Marienette seethed in her seat. Alya and Nino gave a polite nod but ever since the incident with Narcisse, they were more careful around her. The amount of times that Alya had apologised to Marinette was staggering. Lila shot Marinette a secret look.

"How's things dude?" Nino asked.

"Pretty good. So far, I haven't run into any walls while reading yet," Andrew said, causing a few laughs and a smile from Lila, which didn't go unnoticed by Marinette. What was she up to?

"Where's Izzy? Isn't she usually with you?" Alya asked. Andrew's eyes widened and internally groaned.

"Oh nuts, I forgot to text her. I'm gonna pay for that later," he said with an awkward laugh.

"Aw, you two are like this. She won't stay mad at you," Marinette said with a smile as she crossed her fingers to make her point.

Lila's eyes then lowered slightly. Izzy had made it clear that she didn't like her. Not to mention insulting her the other day. She had no right talking to her like that! Or to call her a liar! An idea then popped into her head. She had already spread a little rumour about having another boyfriend this morning when she arrived extra early. She never specified who, but she was aware when they were walking home that people had seen them. Time to plant the seed.

* * *

Now, in this class, Andrew's seat was usually with Izzy behind Alya and Marinette. However, a few heads were turned when Andrew sat down. Not because he sat down, but because Lila sat down next to him. Andrew was surprised at this and was now deliberating on what to do. While Izzy was his best friend, he didn't know how to tell Lila to get out of her seat without hurting her feelings. He had made so much progress.

"Um Lila, that's Izzy's seat," Marinette called back, now realising what she was up to.

"Yes, but I need help with my work," Lila said innocently, shifting closer to Andrew.

Now Andrew was completely aware what was going on. However, before anyone could say anything else, a depressing atmosphere came over the room. Everyone practically shivered as they turned to the front of the room to see Izzy coming into the room. Chloe of course didn't sense the tension.

"Well if it isn't…" she started but Izzy shot her a demonic look that practically made her shrink in her seat.

"Care to finish?" she said darkly.

"Uh…I don't have the time for you," Chloe said with a slight waver in her voice. She folded her arms and looked away.

"Good," Izzy muttered.

Her eyes then trailed up to her seat and her heart practically dropped to see Lila sitting by Andrew. That little cow was working her way back in! She was well aware that Andrew was too nice to tell her to go away but still! That was her seat! No, she was a superhero! She would not be akumatised. She took a deep breath and made her way up. Marinette and Adrien watched her. They were well aware of the process of becoming a victim. But they both saw Izzy calm herself, but they were more anxious about Lila and how she would end up in this. If she kept getting akumatised, they would have to start a little betting poll or something.

"Uh oh," Nino mumbled as they all watched Izzy.

"Hey Izzy," Andrew said as best as he could.

He was slightly hurt when Izzy ignored him but to his surprise…walked right past them, but not before Lila let out a yelp of pain. Izzy kept on walking despite the noise she made and sat by herself at the back of the class. She had to thank Jinxx later for pulling Lila's hair with some juicy red apples. The past few days had started to pile on in her brain and her family with their attitudes minus her father, weren't helping her moods. And now to top it off, Lila had clearly been lying about being Andrew's girlfriend and was now stealing her best friend. And he was letting it happen!

"She pulled my hair!" Lila screeched.

"Not now Lila," Andrew said as he tried to get Izzy's attention. She didn't even look his way but stuck her face into her book.

"Wow, this feels just…wrong," Marinette said with a frown.

"I know. Those two have always been best friends," Nino said.

Maybe he could help as Chat Noir? No. he shouldn't interfere. He would most likely make something worse. Maybe he could do something about Lila. No, that might lead to another akumatisation. For the rest of the class, the ominous aura still stayed around, and Andrew was secretly texting her during the lesson, but she had responded…by turning off her phone. Lila was starting to get annoyed at Andrew. She thought this would have been fun. Now it was irritating.

* * *

Finally, the bell to the lesson rang and everyone started to clear away their books. Andrew did this as quickly as he could so he could catch Izzy, but she had done it quicker. She made her way out of the classroom like a bullet. Andrew practically leapt over his desk, ignoring Lila and running after her. Lila growled in frustration, making a secret smile come to Marinette's face. It quickly left when she realized that she may have ruined a really good friendship. Andrew then came back into the classroom with a downcast look.

"Did you get her?" Alya asked.

"No, she can be fast when she wants to be," Andrew sighed. He knew that she was upset about the seating change, but she had never been this upset and run out on him.

"Hey, why don't we go to lunch. Maybe she needs some time to cool off," Marinette suggested. Andrew pushed his glasses up on his nose roughly. He was in no position to disagree and he was pretty sure he needed to cool off too since he was hurt and annoyed.

"Yeah, okay. Can we talk later Lila?" Andrew asked as he turned his gaze to Lila, who still looked pretty miffed. Andrew was sure that the progress he had made in the past few days was about to decrease.

"Fine. I have better things to do anyway," she huffed as she shifted out of the classroom.

"Well, I don't know what makes my head hurt more. This, or when I keep walking into the walls when reading books," Andrew said. This did lighten the mood a little as a few chuckles went around the little group.

* * *

The gang, minus Izzy, who had vanished somewhere, were now sitting at their regular lunch table. Marinette had offered to check the little chemistry room but even when she did check it, Izzy wasn't there. That was worrying. It was pudding day at school, so everyone was refilling rapidly on pudding. Andrew was pushing his around his bowl with a spoon. Lila was nowhere to be seen; probably pouting or something like that. Maybe she had said something to Izzy. But after all the progress?

"Do you think the new superheroes would give me an interview?" Alya asked.

"I don't know. How would you ask them?" Marinette asked. Even she wouldn't know how to answer this question as Ladybug. She hadn't been in contact with them much. While the conversation with Fu had calmed her nerves, it was a good point to see how she could contact them.

"Maybe Chat Noir and Ladybug can help. They seem to work with them," Nino suggested.

"I don't know, I haven't seen them fighting akumas with the others. I think they do little crimes," Alya replied. Andrew lifted his head in annoyance at that.

"Crimes are not little. From what I have read they deal with robberies and help innocent people on the streets at night from thugs. They're just as dangerous. You need to show them respect too," Andrew told her firmly.

"Agreed. They seem like really nice guys too," Adrien said in agreement.

"Yeah you're right Andrew. See, this is why I want to know more about them! I wish they would have time to give me at least five minutes," Alya pouted, and Marinette gave her a friendly pat on the back for support.

Time, Andrew thought. That would be incredibly useful. Then again, if he did come into possession of a time power of sorts, he was 100% sure he would cause mayhem. Now that he thought about it, the Bunny miraculous allowed the holder to move in time. That was a pretty interesting day too.

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

_Andrew was currently sitting in his room reading his books. Grizz was sitting on top of a pile of shredded paper from his failed writing attempts. He was currently trying to complete a ten-thousand-word essay. But that was pretty hard to do when his brain was frazzled and it was once of those times where his kwami was a pretty loud snorer. Andrew then slammed the book shut, took his glasses off, and dragged a hand down his face. Maybe the television would offer something to recharge his brain. He grabbed the nearby remote and flicked through the channels._

_"Boring…seen it…overdone…ew!" Andrew said with a shudder on the last one. He then flicked onto the local news and was shocked to see Ladybug and Chat Noir and…a bunny fighting a villain!_

_"This just in! this new villain appears to be traveling…hold it…wait in time? That can't be right!" the reporter said. Clearly this reporter was new to Paris._

_"Wow, a time traveller?! I gotta see this! Let's go Grizz!" Andrew said as he got up from his seat. Grizz barely moved as he sleepily opened his eyes._

_"Can't I have a few more minutes?" Grizz asked._

_"Later! Grizz! Paws up!" Andrew yelled._

_After his transformation was complete, he leapt out of his bedroom window and headed towards the fight. He was leaping on top of buildings for about five minutes until he felt someone land on his shoulders. He halted with a yell to now realize that someone was sitting on his shoulders. He instantly knew the culprit._

_"Do you mind?" Ursa grunted._

_"Not really. Now mush!" Blair yelled as she pointed to the fight up ahead. Ursa rolled his eyes and flexed his arms so she was flung off his back._

_"Mush yourself," he said with a small smirk as he watched her get up with a pout on her face._

_"Fine. Now can we go?" she asked._

_"Sure. Let's-" he started but a flash of white light appeared before them; making them both fall down. They blinked to get their sight back and was shocked to see a red headed hero in a white and blue suit with bunny ears, an umbrella and a fluffy tail._

_"Back Bunny back!" Blair said as she held her twig out in front of her. Ursa rolled his eyes and put his hand on the twig and pushed it down slowly._

_"Relax, she's the hero who was fighting with Ladybug and Chat Noir on the news," Ursa said. The bunny hero nodded._

_"Got that right Bear Boy. I'm Bunnix. I'm from the future," Bunnix said as she helped the heroes up. Their eyes widened in surprise. The future?!_

_"Awesome! Did you come to tell us how awesome we are in the future?" Blair asked excitedly. Bunnix's smile faded._

_"No guys. I came to tell you to not get involved in this fight," she answered. Now that they were not expecting._

_"Really? Why not? We can help!" Blair insisted._

_"I know, but I've seen how this fight ends and you're not a part of it. And that's why you shouldn't be in this fight. Look I can't stay, the others need my help," Bunnix said as another white portal opened behind her. As she was about to leave, Ursa grabbed her by the arm._

_"But…we are heroes in the future right?" he asked. Bunnix paused._

_"I can't answer that. Sorry. But please, don't get involved," Bunnix said before getting into the portal and vanishing for good._

_Ursa and Blair stood there motionless. Were they not heroes in the future? We they not…good enough? Did something happen to them? Or their kwami's? Did Hawkmoth win? Did all the heroes…not make it?_

_"Huh…" Ursa muttered._

_"That's not something you hear every day," Blair said in agreement. Ursa then smacked the side of his head, startling Blair._

_"Look. We may not be heroes in the future, but the future isn't set in stone. If we help Ladybug and Chat Noir find Hawkmoth, then we can change the future!" Ursa declared. A grin spread across Blair's face._

_"Then what are we waiting for? Let's head out and start researching!" Blair as she bounced up and down before turning on her heels and leaping in the direction of the local news station, with Ursa following behind closely. They could access all Hawkmoth sightings there. And if not…well they had means of getting it._

* * *

_Flashback End_

* * *

"Andrew? Dude you okay?" Nino asked, breaking Andrew out of his thoughts. He shook his head and looked at the group, who seemed fairly concerned with him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What was the question?" he asked.

"We were curious if Ursa could stomp so hard he could split the continent in half," Alya said. Andrew had to blink at this. This is what he had snapped back in for?

"That is just…ridiculous," Andrew said in disbelief. Well, granted he had yet to find the limits of his strength, though something as big as a continent was unlikely. Adrien and Nino pouted while the girls looked smug.

"See, told you!" Alya said. Just as the boys, minus Andrew, were about to make another point, the bell rung, ending the lunch hour.

"Science next, fun," Marinette said tiredly.

"Not me. I have a free period now," Andrew said, slightly relieved at this.

"Aw, no fair," Alya whined and Andrew chuckled at this.

"You going to head to the library instead?" Adrien guessed. Andrew was about to confirm that until he remembered he had something important to do.

"Nah I think I'm gonna head home early," Andrew said.

"Feeling pretty stressed about Izzy huh?" Marinette said with sympathy in her voice. Andrew shrugged with a sigh. The last time she was angry at him was when he had misplaced her chemical equations in a library book. She practically tore the library apart to find them.

"A little. I'm gonna call her later," Andrew said.

"Alright, catch up tomorrow? Let us know how things turn out?" Adrien offered supportively.

Andrew gave a polite nod and waved to everyone as he departed the table and headed for the school exit. He inhaled deeply as he headed around the side of the school, where he knew no one would be. Mainly it was beside some smelly trash dumpsters. Grizz came out of his coat and he gave a sniff of discontent.

"Could you find a less stinky place next time?" he said as he rubbed his eyes.

"I'll try to. Grizz, paws up," Andrew said. His voice did contain much enthusiasm but seeing as he needed to keep his mood in check, he took another deep breath and put a smile on his face. He then took off in the direction of the Eiffel Tower.

* * *

Ursa was now on top of the Eiffel Tower. While he did have improved stamina, it was still a fair stretch up to the top. He twisted his back slightly and did some leg stretches.

"You're late!" a voice called.

Ursa turned his head over to the voice. Blair was sitting on the edge of the tower with her legs dangling over the edge. She turned her head to see Ursa coming towards her. He sat down and looked at his partner. Ultimately, the pair had decided to meet up every now and again to discuss their theories and research on who Hawkmoth could be. While good to do, the pair didn't have a good place to set up a lair. So, the top of the tower was a good place for now.

"Sorry for being late, I was eating," he said. Blair rolled her eyes.

"And people say I'm the irresponsible one," she teased. There was something lacking in her teasing but Ursa couldn't pinpoint it.

"Ha, so funny. How long do you have to spare?" he asked.

"An hour. That should give us plenty of time. What have you got so far?" Blair questioned.

Ursa reached into his furry coat and pulled out some paper. There wasn't many; about ten pages. They had news clips printed on as well as some text. While Ursa wanted to gather as much as he could, he knew he shouldn't write it down by hand. Someone could figure out his handwriting. Not that he didn't trust Blair, but it was too early for her to know his identity.

"Here," he said as he held it out to her. She looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

"That's it?" Blair asked. Ursa looked insulted.

"Hey, I have busy schedule you know. What do you have?" Ursa said. Blair smirked, reached over to her side and handed over a binder of papers. Ursa blinked. It made his paper feel tiny compared to it.

"Busy schedule huh?" she teased, and he snatched the binder while she took his paper.

"Shut up," he mumbled as he scanned through her work. While hers was also in text, there were also news clips and highlighted sentences.

"You've got some good stuff," Ursa said, with Blair muttering some similar.

"So, we have all of the work. We have an hour. Shall we?" Blair asked, looking at her partner.

"Shall we M'Lady?" he asked, only realising what came out of his mouth. Blair blinked at this and burst out laughing as he now had a pink dusting on his cheeks.

"M'Lady? Have you been seeing Chat behind my back?" she said while still laughing. This went on for about five more minutes until Ursa threatened to push her off the tower.

The investigation for Hawkmoth was now underway.

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

**Starskulls: Ugh, Lila is being Lila again, and this time its towards Izzy, as if she didn't already have enough on her plate as it is.**

**W.R. Winters: yeah, and it looks like it was an idiotic move on Andrew's part to play the boyfriend card in the previous chapter, but we've also got our two heroes in the shadows beginning their investigation on Hawkmoths identity, will they actually be able to put the pieces together though?**

**Starskulls: Who knows, no one except us, and no we're not giving any spoilers! What we are giving out are cupcakes to all those that left a review!**

**W.R. Winters: You get the treats and I'll get the reviews.**

* * *

_Guest  
Andrew is amazing, kinder than anyone could be to Lila without understanding where she's coming from. Is that relationship going to become more? Can my cupcake have candy corn on it? It makes perfect sense for Marinette to be a bit worried about the role Ursa and Blair will_ play.  
**Starskulls: Of course your cupcake can have candy corn! I'm always open for special requests, enjoy! And we're glad that you were able to understand where Marinette is coming from.  
****W.R. Winters: As for Andrew and Lila's relationship becoming something more, I'm afraid due to spoilers I cannot confirm or deny anything like that happening, you'll just have to wait and see**

_DragoonSensei  
Okey this was intersting I realy like Andrew and he just keep getting better._  
_Do we get a backstory for Lila?_  
_Because that would be intresting see her reasons._  
_And good to see Ladybug is comunicating whit Chat. _  
_IT COULD HAVE SOLVED A LOT OF PROBLEM IN THE SHOW!  
_**Starskulls: Hm, it seems that Andrew is growing in popularity. Don't expect us to go into a lot of detail into Lila's backstory, but we may mention one or two things. And I totally agree, A lot of stuff happening in the show could be handled better if these heroes would just communicate with one another!  
****W.R. Winters: That seems to be a common thing with shows marketed towards children, lots of action and not enough communication. I'm glad we're still able to keep your attention focused on the story for you to keep leaving reviews.**

_bunnywabbit29  
__Although I hate Lila, it's really nice that you two are giving her some chance at redeeming herself slowly! Although with recent episodes, I've given up all hope._  
**Starskulls: Believe me, you're not the only one, on both having no hope and hating Lila. Always satisfying to see another Lila hater!  
W.R. Winters: Lila hatred aside, as i've said in previous chapters, I love a good redemption arc, though if it were up to my co-author, Lila probably wouldn't have a redemption arc and would just be a straight-up villain with no chances of changing.**

_Pinksakura271  
Kitty Blanc it was CATTASTIC, too miraculously fur words. (HUGE Heart Eyes)_  
_ON TO MY REVIEW: Tikki trust Master Fu's decision with her whole magically being. She's right Mari, your concerns are for not. Master Fu doesn't have to explain his reasonings to you. _  
_\- dumb Oblivio photo - well Dupain-Cheng kissing that Black Cat WON'T BE REGRETFUL! Memory or not you love the boy com-paw-letely. OH PURRLEASE SHE ALWAYS SAYS STUPID THINGS TO OR ABOUT KITTY SHE NEVER MEANS THEM! (Sharping knives) Saying to switch partners temporarily jokingly so not funny._  
_Huh she actually discussed this with Kitty, instead of just swing off to Master Fu that's a pleasant surprise. Oni-chan damn but still lovely akuma. Cat leaving her hanging and cutely taking Kagami home nice. - Kagami would get over Adrien and Chat could get over her. - yea sure Bug. Exactly Blair and Ursa parallel duo of Kitty and Bug. To each is their own. Bugaboo is actually the nickname I like him to call her._  
_\- Ursa can be a stick in the mud and can't seem to bear my hiss-terical puns, but he seems to be a good selfless guy and a great ally to have," he said, "Blair is a lot of fun, has a bunch of fun tricks, a source of good banter, and great company. - Kitty's description is how I feel about them too. Tho Ursa IS DEFINITELY NOT a stick in the mud and Blair is sweetly sassy._  
_Really don't see the problem. I mean Bug you have constantly given Cholé sweet little Pollen. (Slight Frown) Happy Lila is all happy. Right Gabriel is a extremely tough man to impress. Andrew CD is furrey cute. Her track record opps you went there Book Boy. Yea smart move cutting yourself off at Alya and her... stupid Ladyblog._  
_\- Maybe Andrew wasn't Adrien, but she guessed that he wasn't that bad. - The seed is planted in her head now. YES DEFINITELY Andrew teach Lila to play the violin. It would be fun and great way to grow your starting friendship. HER FATHER CANCELLED THE LESSONS SHE TRULY WANTED?! Their whole conversation from Lila getting "attacked" by CD to Andrew's library talk to them walking on... I SO LOVED IT ALL! Andrew seriously faking the boyfriend thing wasn't right of you one bit. I'm not just talking about at Lila expense either. _  
_Wayzz it's okay it is Ursa and Blair's time. There's always something to worry about but with those two meh I don't see much yet. So their role to play is in hiding truly in the shadows dealing with mini stupid criminals. So Kitty and Bug focus on Hawkmoth great work so far. ;) Yea Mari's discussion with Fu annoyed me only because she talked.  
_**Starskulls: I was almost beginning to think that we weren't getting a review from you this time, you were really cutting it close. Glad you're enjoying the show and out story as much as you are. Yeah its definitely a nice chance for Ladybug to talk with Chat, its a real shame that they aren't able to hang out more outside of the akuma battles. While I personally am not the biggest fan of Andrew and Lila's friendship, I am glad that we seem to be handling its development well, and hopefully we will continue to do so!  
****W.R. Winters: Lots of Chat Noir praising, so I'm sure that you enjoyed the bigger spotlight Chat got last chapter, though unfortunately today's chapter didn't have as much Chat Noir in it, but hopefully you enjoyed reading it regardless. We'd certainly hate to lose one of our more detailed reviewers.**

* * *

**Starskulls: So that's another four reviews, we're getting around the same number each time, which is a good thing. Its certainly better than not getting any reviews at all.**

**W.R. Winters: You can say that again, so see you all in two weeks for the next chapter. And I'm definitely excited about the next one.**

**Starskulls: Yeah, me too! No spoilers, but we're certainly hoping it gets a good reaction out of all of you! We'll see you next time!**

**W.R. Winters: This is W.R. Winters and Starskulls, signing off.**


	5. Chapter 5

**W.R. Winters: Welcome back everyone to 'Masks In The Shadows' and happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers!**

**Starskulls: A holiday I don't celebrate because I'm not American!**

**W.R. Winters: You wish you could celebrate it because you'll take any opportunity/excuse to pig out.**

**Starskulls: Says to guy with the name Wolf, you probably wolf down any feast you're a part of!**

**W.R. Winters: That I will not deny, but anyway since it is the day of thanks. I just wanna take a moment to thank everyone that's taken the time to read and then continuing to read this story.**

**Starskulls: Yeah, and the support and feedback we've been receiving in your reviews is been greatly appreciated, though I can't fully say I approve of those of you that seem to ship Andrew and Lila...just saying that makes me want to vomit.**

**W.R. Winters: There are worse couples to ship, at least Andrew and Lila are an okay couple.**

**Starskulls: I'm just glad you that so far you've been the one writing the Andrew and Lila scenes.**

**W.R. Winters: Don't tempt me into forcing you to write and Andrew/Lila kiss scene.**

**Starskulls: Why don't you just tell me to go to hell while you're at it?**

**W.R. Winters: Would you prefer Izzy and Chloe or Izzy and Lila?**

**Starskulls: *gaga and retches* You are a sick bastard! I am not speaking to you!**

**W.R. Winters: Yeah, right sure.**

**Starskulls: ...**

**W.R. Winters: Well, let's see how long she lasts with this silent treatment. How about we get this chapter on the road then? I hope you all enjoy, I told you last chapter that I was excited about this one. It also took me a long time to write and writing some of these scenes was Very difficult. So hopefully I was still able to write something great, enjoy!**

**-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

**_Recap of the last chapter: Izzy was having the roughest of times due to a combination of lack of chats with Andrew, her brother messing around with her, and her mother not really seeming to care about what was going on in her life while being absolutely focus on her brothers. Then things didn't help when she heard the latest gossip going around the school. Lila had a new boyfriend, and it was none other than her best friend Andrew. Throughout the rest of the Izzy was giving everyone in her friend group, especially Andrew, the cold shoulder. Lila certainly wasn't helping things with her sitting in Izzy's seat and more or less hogging Andrew. However Andrew wasn't really paying attention to Lila due to being concerned about his friend. Then after some chats about Blair and Ursa, Andrew flashback to when Bunnnix appeared to ursa and Blair when they tried to assist in the Timetagger battle. She tells them not to interfere and implies that there's a possibility that Ursa and Blair aren't heroes in the future. Then the chapter ends with Ursa meeting up with Blair to start their investigation to figure out Hawkmoth's secret identity._**

* * *

CHAPTER 5: Itazura Iodine

* * *

There was an electric whirring as a window opened, illuminating a room filled with butterflies, that took flight as the light hit them. In the centre of the room stood a dark figure, "Something is brewing…a concoction of various emotional elements; from enemies, friends, and even family," Hawkmoth said with a dark chuckle.

"This young girl will make a powerful tool in my quest against Ladybug and Chat Noir, but not yet. I feel that there can be more to make things bubble over," he reached out a hand to allow a butterfly to land on it. After gently covering the insect his hands glowed with a inky purple magic, turning the once white butterfly into a purple and black akuma. Then he let the butterfly go and it flew towards the window, "Fly away my little Akuma, but wait. Linger around her, and once the time is right and the opportunity presents itself, make this young scientist go unstable!"

* * *

Izzy didn't wake up in the greatest mood, discussing potential Hawkmoth candidates with Ursa really took a lot out of her. Well, Izzy says 'discussing' but a more accurate term would be 'arguing about each other's logic'. It baffled her how Ursa could be equal parts idiot and over-analysing detective, but this was nothing like when she'd play Detectives with Andrew. Sure they made a great team, but she was stubborn and Ursa apparently liked playing Devil's Advocate with every claim she made.

For the entire hour that they had, they were basically arguing whether or not to rule out people who had been akumatized as suspects for Hawkmoth's identity. Turns out it wasn't just because he was busy, Ursa's findings were so little when compared hers was also because he had ruled out people that had been akumatized while she wasn't leaving anyone out of this investigation.

Thankfully they were able to come to a compromise, they'd rule out all the akumas that assisted Hawkmoth in the Battle of Heroes' Day, but suspect those that hadn't been a part of the fight. That turned out to be a good idea because it led to how now that they have a good idea to Hawkmoth's height and build due to the news coverage of Heroes' Day they could now start ruling even more out in the future.

Once Izzy had gotten home it was pretty late, so she just decided that after she completed her homework and usual studying she was going to call it a day. It had been a rough one and she wanted to get a good amount of sleep. The last thing she wanted was to get akumatized. He came pretty close yesterday when she heard about Lila and Andrew's 'relationship', but thankfully she was able to calm herself down before class.

Unfortunately because she had gone to bed so early that lead to her waking up multiple times during the night because her idiot brothers couldn't keep it down. It was clear that they had all done well at their sports and were celebrating their success. Her dad had a last-minute teacher's meeting at the college and was stuck working late and couldn't have that talk they discussed, and with her mom celebrating with her brothers, no one had bothered to check on her. Plus to top it all off her alarm had woken her up at a bad time as she was definitely feeling groggy and somewhat out of it.

After debating whether or not it was even worth it to get out of bed, the brunette begrudgingly got ready for the day and went downstairs to eat some breakfast. Of course, life couldn't be kind to her as all four of her brothers were eating breakfast and noticed her coming in.

Jason had to laugh, "You know, Sissy, you've looked better. There's a protocol called basic human hygiene," he said, reflecting the words she had said the them the other day, causing the other three boys to join in on the laughing.

"Good one Jason," Jack said, clapping him on the back.

She sighed, rolling her eyes at the level of maturity her brother had, she really didn't have time to deal with this right now, "Alright, that's it, I'm getting breakfast on the way to school, break a leg out there on the field guys," Izzy said as she turned on her heel and walked to the front door.

"Oh come on, don't be like that, we're just messing around, at least you look better than your room," Ryland called after her, Izzy's only response was slamming the door behind her as she left, "Yeesh, what's with her? Is it her time of the month or something?"

Alex shrugged, "I don't know," he said, his eyes lingering on the door. Something didn't feel right at all.

* * *

As she walked to school, Izzy checked her phone, she had a missed call and received a text from Andrew yesterday evening, not long after she returned home from detective work with Ursa. She had turned her phone off while she was studying and when she went to bed so that would explain why she hadn't gotten his call or noticed his message.

'Hey, you alright? You seemed upset yesterday I'll be in the library before school tomorrow if you need to talk'

Izzy smiled, "Yeah, a good chat with Andy is just what the doctor ordered," she said, putting her phone away and started to hurry in order to get to school. She still had some things to say to him after yesterday.

As Izzy quickened her pace, the akuma left its perch and fluttered after her high in the sky.

* * *

Apparently still a bit scared of the way she was acting yesterday, the students gave Izzy a wide berth as she made her way to the library. Though the brunette tried carrying herself in a calm and collected fashion…but that kinda went out the window when she saw Lila leaving the library talking with Andrew.

* * *

Lila noticed Izzy marching towards them out of the corner of his eye, and from the looks of things her mood hadn't improved from yesterday. But that wasn't the only thing she noticed, anyone probably would've missed it, but she had seen them enough times to make it out. An akuma, and it was going for Izzy...opportunity was knocking.

Once the brunette was in front of the two of them was when the blonde noticed her, "Hey Izzy, you feeling…" Andrew trailed off when he felt Lila hug his arm. He looked at the Italian in confusion. She only gave him an innocent expression, as if what she was doing was completely normal. After a moment Andrew figured he could question it later and turned back towards Izzy, "Are you feeling better?"

"As Banana Man would say, I'm just peachy," she said, not hiding the sarcastic tone, "Can we talk?" Izzy asked.

Andrew felt Lila hug his arm tighter, "Sure, Izzy, you know you can tell us anything," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder…this was weird.

Izzy didn't look amused, "Just Andrew, I'd prefer it if you got lost Lie-talian," she said bluntly, putting an emphasis on the nickname.

Lila frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but Andrew beat her to it, "Come on girls, no need to start the day so negatively," he said, then he looked down at Lila, "You can let me go now," he said.

The Italian pouted a bit, something she saw made Izzy roll her eyes, "Alright, but hurry back. I was enjoying our time together," she said with a smile that Andrew thought Lila only used with Adrien. She started to lean up towards him, if Andrew didn't know any better, he'd think she was going to kiss him. But before he could find out what she was doing, Izzy grabbed Andrew's other arm, pulled him out of the other girl's grip and dragged him away from Lila.

Lila smirked, her gaze going to the akuma that flew after them, "No way am I gonna miss this," she said to herself as she slowly walked after them, staying out of sight.

* * *

Once Izzy was sure that there was enough of a distance between them and Lila, she released Andrew's arm and turned towards him, her arms crossed and an irritated look on her face.

"So…are you going to tell me what all that was about?" She asked.

Andrew just gave her an odd look and looked back in the direction they came from, "I was kinda hoping you could tell me, Lila was acting kind of weird there," he said, clearly a bit confused.

"Oh, I don't think she's acting that weird at all. After all, she's your girlfriend after all," Izzy remarked, her words accompanied by an eye roll.

"…Where did you hear that?" Andrew asked.

There was a moment of silence, the way Andrew asked the question wasn't how she was expecting it. "The whole school is talking about it, about how the artistic bookworm is the Lietalian's new boy toy. How could I not hear about it?!" Her voice was beginning to rise, and it was catching the attention of the other students in the hall.

Andrew sighed, "I've asked you not to call her that, and keep your voice down," he said. This is why he wanted to talk with Izzy in the library! "So she did tell people about it…" he added under his breath.

Unfortunately Izzy heard it, "Did she tell people? So, it's true?!" she asked, her blood now beginning to simmer.

"No, I'm not Lila's boyfriend," Andrew said, trying to keep his voice level, but a tiny bit of annoyance and exhaustion made it through, "The other day I was walking Lila home" Izzy gave him a look, "long story and I don't want to go into the details of it," Andrew explained, "And I met her mom and she assumed I was Lila's boyfriend and I just rolled with it."

"So it was you that said you were Lila's boyfriend?" Izzy asked in disbelief, "I'd expect this from her, but you?"

Andrew groaned, this was going nowhere, "I didn't say anything, I rolled with an assumption. It was a joke, I did the exact same thing when I first met your brothers."

The brunette scowled, "Well, it wasn't funny then, and it certainly isn't funny now!" Her brothers had mocked her relentlessly for weeks for choosing Andrew as a boyfriend.

"Okay fine, not funny, I get that," Andrew sighed, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses. This was mentally exhausting, "I didn't think she'd actually tell people about that, a misstep on my part. But I just don't see what the big deal is here. You can't honestly say that you believed the rumor that Lila was dating me, right?"

She scoffed, "That's the point, you don't see. No wonder you need glasses," Izzy said, "This is exactly what I thought would happen, she'd just use you for her own gain and-"

"What gain?" Andrew asked, cutting her off, "What could she possibly have to gain from acting like she's in a relationship with me? What social advantage does she have to gain from dating a geeky artist that can't see past the book he's writing in?"

Izzy didn't have a response to that, at least…not one that would help.

The brunette's lack of response got some gears turning in his head, "…Do you think that Lila's only befriending me, to get at you?" When Izzy didn't answer, Andrew had to take a deep breath. "Now I can't believe this. Izzy, for once, use your brain! Maybe Lila just wanted a friend because she's hated and has no one else. You of all people should understand that."

Izzy's eyes went wide with shock and things went dead silent. Then she scowled before turning on her heel and marching away. Taking deep breaths as she stormed away from Andrew, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall down her face. No wonder he was struggling with academics. He was a complete idiot!

* * *

Andrew watched his best friend march down the hall, then he looked around at all the students that had been watching the scene, "Show's over, go about your business," he said and the students quickly pretended like they weren't just spying and eavesdropping.

Andrew took off his glasses to rub his eyes, could he have handled that better? Probably, but thinking about 'could've, would've, should've' wasn't going to change the past.

"Hey," Andrew looked to see Lila walking towards him, "You alright? That certainly didn't look good,"

The blonde merely sighed and put his glasses back on, "It's not me you need to be concerned about, but thanks." he said, though he seemed focused on the direction Izzy left in, "Maybe I should try and cheer her up."

Lila frowned, but then she had an idea. She swiped the fedora off his head and placed it on her own, "Hey, give that back!" he said trying to grab the hat.

"Come get it yourself, Book Boy," Lila said, winking at him before taking off down the hall.

Andrew blinked, "Great, now there are two girls in my life I have no idea what to do with," he said before going after her.

* * *

Once Izzy rounded a corner to where she knew Andrew was both out of earshot and out of her line of vision, she leaned back against the wall and growled to herself. If she could have one wish it would be to have a pillow to scream into…or Lila being put on the next train out of Paris never to return, either would be fine.

"You want me to mess with them?" Jinxx asked, poking her head out of Izzy's tutu, "I could do some considerable cosmetic damage, I'm sure that blonde hair would look very nice if it was pink or if the girl's hair were to just completely fall out."

Izzy opened her mouth to reject the idea, but paused to consider it, "No," she said shaking her head, "I can't just give in to emotion like that, what I can do is try to relax. I'm sure Ms. Mendeleiev doesn't have any early morning classes so I should be able to do some fiddling around before the first bell."

Jinxx nodded and went back into hiding as Izzy made her way to the science room, pulling her personal safety goggles out of her school bag.

* * *

10 minutes later:

"Restricted?!" Izzy couldn't believe her ears, "You can't be serious!" Standing in front of Izzy was a displeased Principal Damocles, a disappointed Ms. Mendeleiev, and a very smug looking Chloe Bourgeois.

"I'm sorry Miss Jones," the principal said, "But Miss Chloe Bourgeois has brought us many examples of evidence that someone has been bullying her through the use of the school's science materials, and to prevent further incidents like this I've restricted the use of the science rooms equipment outside of class."

The brunette narrowed her eyes, "Because someone was bullying Chloe?...Bullying…Chloe?!" Izzy's voice was rising with each word, "She terrorizes myself and my classmates because we're 'beneath' her every chance she gets! None of us can do anything about it because you people, the adults that are supposed to protect us from bullies, don't wanna mess with the mayor! She was literally akumatized three weeks ago into the literally embodiment of 'you have no choice, kneel before me', but she mentions that someone is bullying her and then suddenly it's all hands-on deck to protect one of the biggest bullies in school?!"

"Isabelle Jones!" the bearded gentleman shouted, now visibly angry, "I will not tolerate such talk in my school-"

"Ha! Your school? With how much Chloe bosses you around with the threat of just one phone call to her precious daddy, I find that hard to believe," Izzy said, while crossing her arms, her emerald eyes glaring into the principal's.

"March yourself down to my office right now, young lady!" The principal pointed to the door, "We will further discuss your behavior later there with your parents."

Growling from both anger and annoyance, Izzy uncrossed her arms, turned around, and walked towards the door. Her hand tightly squeezing the safety goggles tightly as she opened the door and slammed it behind her.

* * *

Hawkmoth grinned, "Such a powerful reaction, now is the time my akuma! Evilize her!"

* * *

As Izzy entered the principal's office, she took a seat on the chair facing the principal's desk. Not being able to fight it anymore she buried her face in her hands, the tears she had been resisting now flowing down her cheeks. And behind her the akuma entered the room by slipping under the door.

As the brunette cried, the purple butterfly flew into Izzy's safety goggles, turning them a dark purple color. Izzy stopped crying, her posture straightening and her face leaving her hands as the area below her eyes and across her nose turned a rusty dark color and the glowing purple butterfly mask appeared in front of her face. Her sad expression turning angry.

"_Hello, Itazura Iodine, I am Hawkmoth. Those around you have given little to no consideration towards you and your feelings as of late. To the point where they've taken away the one thing that helps you to feel better, your science,"_ Izzy heard in her mind, _"But all is not lost, I am giving you the power to bring forth a new and very powerful kind of science, and those around you are your test subjects. Have your fun, and in return you will bring me the miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir."_

"Well, Hawkmoth, I've got a hypothesis for you," Izzy's angry sneer turned into a wicked smiled as she put the safety goggles on over her eyes, "By the time I'm done experimenting, their miraculous will be yours!" she declared, then as she stood up her body was covered by the dark, bubbling, inky magic.

* * *

Principal Damocles opened the door to his office so that he could call Izzy's parents and tell them about their daughter's situation, but he was only greeted a pink gas being sprayed in his face. Coughing he took multiple stumbling steps back, he tried waving a hand in front of his face to dispel the smoke, but it seemed to cling to his head, completely hiding it from view.

The gas faded from the Principal's head to reveal that his head had now been mutated into an owl's. The students that were nearby looked in shock and fear as the door opened wide, releasing more gas out of the office.

"Oh, Principal Damocles, you just had to take away my precious chemistry from me. Me, Itazura Iodine! You just don't appreciate it like I do, so I figured that you should get a taste of it for yourself." Someone who was clearly an akuma stepped out of the gas and into view.

She stood tall and proudly, a chemistry flask filled with a smoking pink liquid was held in one hand, while the other was holding a gas mask against her face. The akuma's hair was rainbow coloured similar to a the-dye shirt and was done up in two Harley Quinn styled ponytails. Strapped to her forehead was a pair of pink safety goggles. Any visible skin was a pale grey colour, which made the bright colours of her outfit stand out even more. She was wearing a white lab coat covered in chemical stains from past experiments. Underneath the lab coat she was wearing a dark pink top and crossing over her chest in an X were two black leather bullet straps, only instead of holding bullets it was holding test tubes and vials filled with various chemicals and elements of all colours and states of matter. Around her waist was a belt with even more elements and chemical materials, as well as a small Bunsen burner hanging from it. She had on elbow length black gloves with matching knee length boots. She also has on black, white and pink leggings and black boots.

She removed the gas mask and attached it to her belt opposite the Bunsen burner, revealing her eyes, which were a radioactive neon green, they even seemed as if they were glowing, and a manic smile that would make any mad scientist seem sane.

"New hypothesis, if I create enough experiments like this one," she said. Adding multiple vials from her straps and belt with lightning speed, turning the pink smoking to a glowing red orange orb. Which she dumped into her gloved hand and looked to the students that were watching in fear, "Then the heroes of Paris will have to arrive and stop me!" She said, laughing maniacally as she threw the orb at the student's feet which exploded upon hitting the ground and enveloped the students in a red-orange gas.

* * *

In a different part of the school, Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino could hear the screaming and explosions, "What's going on, akuma attack?" Marinette asked.

"I hope so!" Alya excitedly said, getting her phone ready and charging in the direction of the commotion.

Nino looked both worried and exasperated, "Alya!" he said. Behind him Marinette and Adrien looked ready to sneak away, but before they could make any attempt Nino looked over his shoulder at them. "Come on, we need to go after her before she puts herself in danger," he said before rushing towards his girlfriend.

"If Nino knew Alya he'd know that she puts herself in danger every time there's an attack," Marinette said before going after Nino, figuring that she'd have an opportunity to sneak away in the chaos the akuma was making.

Adrien however, once Marinette had run ahead, quickly made his way to the bathroom. No one was in there thankfully, but just to be sure he went into one of the stalls and opened his shirt a little for Plagg to fly one, "Why couldn't you just let me rest?" The black cat kwami asked.

"Sorry Plagg," Adrien said, chuckling, "But it looks like Hawkmoth wasted no time in creating an akuma. Plagg, claws out!"

* * *

Once Marinette had reached where all the action was taking place, she could clearly see that it wasn't just chaos, it was absolute hysteria. There were students running around like chickens with their heads cut off…well not quite, since some of the students had literal chicken heads. If fact it seemed that almost every student seemed to be mutated into some kind of animal hybrid. Some had tails, other had altered body parts, and some seemed to be more animal than human.

But even amongst the sea of victims turned freak shows, she could see the obvious akuma, floating above the chaos on a cloud of pink gas/smoke, looking down on the crowd of mutants below her with a mad smile, "New hypothesis, Itazura Iodine loves your new looks!" She said, then they seemed to spot their next victim, "Oh Chloe! You seemed to think I looked like an akuma before, well how to you like me now?!" Itazura Iodine asked, laughing as she floated over to the terrified Bourgeois heiress.

Marinette's eyes widened, "Izzy?" This definitely wasn't good, she needed to transform, and fast! The raven-haired girl weaved her way through the crowd of mutants and disappearing in the mayhem.

* * *

Meanwhile, away from the school, four young men were busy with their everyday workout regime. Alex was with his dumbbells, Jack was on the treadmill, Ryland was doing deadlifts with a trap bar, and Jason was doing lateral lunges. They were all deep into their respective exercises, as shown by them breathing heavily and their bodies dripping with sweat. But they maintained their intensity and rhythm by listening to music that was playing from a speaker hooked up to Alex's phone.

The music was interrupted by a notification, one that all four brothers recognized, they all followed the Ladyblog to see the awesome superhero action so they made sure that they knew whenever Alya added something new to her blog, "Alright, team, let's take a break to get a drink and to check out who's butt the heroes are kicking, then it's back to the grind," Alex said, putting the dumbbells down and walking over to his phone.

Alex could hear his brothers placing their bets as to who got akumatized this time around, Jason bet that it was that Italian girl Izzy hates, Ryland but that it was Mr. Pidgeon again, and Jake went for the crazy theory that Chat Noir had been akumatized. Alex had to laugh, 'Like that could ever happen.' He clicked on the live feed while his brother's gathered around.

"What is up Ladybloggers, Alya here bringing you the latest on akuma related matters, and this time I have the convenient pleasure of having this akuma attack right at my school!"

Alex frowned, at the school? That's where Izzy was…hopefully she was okay. She's a tough girl though, she was probably fine.

The camera focused on the obvious akuma floating over Chloe, who was trying to put up a brave front, but was clearly terrified, "Do what you want, but when Ladybug brings me my miraculous, you'll be sorry!" The akuma only laughed manically in her face.

"Ladybug bring you a miraculous? Oh, that is rich! A spoiled bully like you doesn't deserve a miraculous," the akuma said, then seemed to think before grinning madly and mixing a bunch of stuff together in the flask she was holding, "Itazura Iodine has a new hypothesis, Chloe is a cow and the swine of the earth," she cackled before throwing the concoction at the blonde below her.

His mind now going a million miles per hour; Alex turned off the feed, much to the protest of his brothers, and began collecting his stuff. "We need to go, now!" he said, he knew that voice…

Oh man, what have they done?

"Dude, what gives?" Jake asked, not moving.

Jason was confused, "Coach doesn't let us end our workouts early," he said, now somewhat nervous about what their mom would do if she found out about this.

Ryland chuckled, "He's probably just-"

"Ryland I swear if you turn this into a measuring contest, I will throw you out the window, now get moving!" Alex shouted, clearly having none of it, "Don't you know who the akuma is?" His brothers didn't respond, "You guys really are idiots, the akuma…is Izzy!"

Now he had their attention, "Now you get it, now use those legs you guys work so hard towards building and move it! Go, go, go!" The three brothers were almost tripping over each other as they rushed to their stuff.

* * *

Back at the school, Marinette rushed into a classroom, still able to hear the terror outside, "Looks like Izzy was in a worse state than we thought," Tikki said, floating out of her hiding place once they were sure the coast was clear.

Marinette nodded, "Yeah, maybe I should've done more to help her out," she said, she definitely could've been more persistent when Izzy was avoiding Andrew the other day, "Looks like I'll have to make things up to her by freeing her from Hawkmoth's control. Tikki, spots on!"

* * *

Itazura Iodine watched as the gas that surrounded Chloe faded away, revealing that the Bourgeois heir had been mutated into what looked like a mixture between a human, a cow, and a pig. The mad scientist laughed while Chloe looked absolutely horrified with her new appearance, "That's one, now, where's Lila?" she asked, as she looked her eyes caught sight of Alya recording.

"Ah Alya, always so nosy with that blog of yours," she said, then her grin widened as she started mixing materials together in her chemical flask before dumping a new chemical bomb into her hand, "New hypothesis, Alya is far too nosy for her own good," she said before throwing the bomb at the blogger.

However at the last second, Chat Noir jumped in front of Alya and spun his staff to form a shield, and when the bomb hit the staff and exploded he kept spinning his weapon, turning it into a makeshift fan and blowing the gas back at Itazura Iodine, enveloping her in it. Stopping the spinning, after telling Alya to put some distance between herself and the Akuma, the superhero leaned against his staff and looked around.

"I've heard of pandemonium," he said, spotting a half-Ivan half-panda, "But I think panda-monium is just ridiculous."

"Always clever with the puns, Chat Noir," Itazura Iodine floated out of the cloud, the gas mask once again pressed against her face, "But where's your partner, in order to complete my experiment I need both of you," she said, putting the gas mask away, "Guess I'll just have to go out of order," with explosively fast reflexes she launched another gas pod at him.

This time there was no evading or blocking it, it struck him square in the chest and soon his vision was obscured by a cloud of red gas, he could feel…something in the gas clinging to the top of his head as well as clustering on his back, then the headache and backache came. Soon it intensified before it felt like something burst out of his body.

"Chat Noir!"

The red gas faded from his vision, and the first thing he saw was that Itazura Iodine was gone. Chat turned to look at his partner who was running up to him. Once she was close enough however, she stopped and took a step back, "What…what happened to you?"

"Ummm…what are you talking about, I'm purrfectly fine," he said, leaning forward on his staff, blowing one of his antennae out of his face when it fell down.

Wait…

Chat's hands went to about his head, grabbing what was there and pulling it down so he could see it, "…Apparently I'm Chat-Bug now," Sticking out of his hair were two bug antennae, "Sorry to bug you, M'Lady. But any guesses as to what kind of bug I am?" He asked.

Ladybug gave him a somewhat witty smile, "I'm gonna go with a ladybug, because those things on your head aren't the only thing you have," The feline superhero was confused, but then it came back to him, literally. He shifted his posture and focused on the muscles in back, and with a jolt a pair of ladybug wings unfurled from his back, including the signature spotted elytra.

"Well, it's like having the Ladybug Miraculous all over again, though this time it's not as manageable."

Trying not to laugh too much, Ladybug patted his shoulder, "Don't worry Kitty, we'll get you back to normal soon, but first we need to get the akuma, do you know where she is?"

"I do."

The two heroes turned around to see Alya rushing up to them, "Before targeting me I heard Itazura Iodine mention Lila, I think that's who she's going after next," she explained, still recording with her phone, the camera more focused on Chat's new features.

"Why am I not surprised…" Ladybug muttered under her breath, "We'll need to hurry, if she keeps causing this level of panic, Hawkmoth may be able to cause another mass akumatization like the one on Heroes' Day," she said as she began to move.

Chat Noir went to follow her, but first he tried fluttering his wings to see if they actually worked, he managed to get almost a foot off the ground before falling back down, "Looks like I'm gonna need some practice," he said, running and still attempting to fly after her.

* * *

Meanwhile in a different part of the school, Lila had stopped letting Andrew chase her after running into a group of mutated students that seemed to be fleeing from something or someone, "Looks like that butterfly finally claimed her," Lila thought out loud, feeling a bit proud of herself, "I wonder if she's giving Ladybug any trouble?" She wondered.

Behind Lila, Andrew was trying not get trampled by the mutations scrambling down the hall, but he was still within earshot of the Italian girl, "Butterfly...?" he quietly asked himself, slightly confused. But then the gears started turning and his eyes narrowed a bit.

"Itazura Iodine has a new hypothesis!"

The akuma voice proclaimed as she flew into the hall on a cloud of chemical gas, already mixing elements together for her next mutation bomb, "I'll find my target in this hallway!" she said looking amongst the mayhem before her eyes found Lila's eyes as well as Andrew's.

"Hey Andy! Still with the little liar? I thought you had better taste," Itazura sneered. Andrew's eyes widened slightly.

"Izzy?" he spluttered. Had he upset her that much? His brain was going a mile a minute, but the feeling of guilt was over whelming.

The akuma's eyes then fixed on the fedora that was still on Lila's head and her neon green eyes became wider, filled to the brim with mad fury.

"There you are, I'm gonna have a blast experimenting on you!" she said, clearly knowing just what kind of an abomination she was going to mutate Lila into, dumping the bomb onto her gloved hand, one that was deformed and the most hideous color you could imagine.

The mad scientist threw the gas bomb in Lila's direction, but right as it was about to land, Andrew ran for Lila, wrapping his arms around her and leaping out of the way, the bomb impacting right were Lila was standing, completely enveloping the area with gas. Andrew twisted his body so that he wouldn't land on top of Lila and after hitting the ground he slid a few feet. Not taking time to think about the painful impact, Andrew quickly got to his feet, pulling Lila up to hers, and pushed her down the hall, "Go, run, get out of here!" Lila didn't need to be told twice and ran after the crowd fleeing from the akuma, Andrew's fedora flying off her head in the process.

Itazura Iodine looked ready to chase after her, but Andrew put himself between them. Breathing deeper breaths then normal, Andrew cracked his neck, "Guess I'm tougher than I thought…" he said quietly.

The akuma glared at Andrew before laughing maniacally, "Just when I thought I was done having a hard time figuring you out lately, Andy," Itazura Iodine said, beginning to mix elements together. "But this time, I can't tell if you're a dumb ass…or a jackass!" she said, launching the brown coloured gas bomb at Andrew and nailing him right in the chest.

When the gas faded away, Andrew looked pretty much the same, with the exception that he now had the ears and tail of a donkey, after examining his new features, he wasn't all that amused at all.

"Really Izzy? Your pun game is almost as bad as Ch-HEEHAW!" He was cut off when a very loud bray erupted from his mouth, "What the-HEEHAW!" His face went red at this and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Oh, I could listen to that for hours!" The magical chemist said in between laughs that would've made a hyena jealous, her hands already working on another batch of bombs.

"Well, you don't have that kind of time," A spotted heroine said, landing in front of Andrew, spinning her yo-yo, "But you can certainly save us some time and just tell us where your akuma is."

Itazura Iodine pretended to consider it, "Or…you could save me time and give me your miraculous!" she said, before throwing more of her bombs at Ladybug. But before she could make more the was a black blur accompanied by the fluttering of wings that rushed by her, swiping the chemical flask from her hand.

"Looking for this?" The akuma looked to see Chat noir, wings out and grinning smugly, "I think I'm getting the hang of these wings." he said.

Swinging her spinning yo-yo around she was able to block the onslaught before joining her partner, "Looks like you really didn't have much time, " Ladybug said as Chat threw the flask on the ground, shattering it. Ladybug got ready to purify the akuma, but none came out of the shards of glass.

Now Itazura was laughing madly, "You should see the looks on your faces!" she said, pointing a finger at them, "Sorry to disappoint, but the akuma wasn't there. Another thing you should know…" she said before opening her hands and gas bombs just appeared seemingly out of thin air, "While the flask certainly helps, I don't need it to attack!" she said before throwing bomb after bomb at the heroes.

The Lucky Duo were now playing a game of one-sided chemical dodge ball with Itazura Iodine, though ironically Ladybug wasn't so lucky as she was soon hit by a black coloured bomb, shrouding her in black smoke.

"M'Lady!" Chat shouted.

With a growl he split his staff into batons before throwing one after the other at the akuma, whose only response was a laugh. Starting from her feet and ending with the safety goggles on the top of her head, turned into a pink colored gas in the shape of her body, the batons harmlessly passing through her. The gas separated temporarily before joining back together.

"I don't just have formula and experiments up my sleeve, Kitty! Once I achieve my magnum opus with Lila, you and Ladybug's miraculous are next on my list!" Itazura Iodine said cackling as she went into one of the school vents and disappeared.

Chat's batons returned to him just as Ladybug was recovering from the chemical attack, equal parts worried about what Itazura had mutated his partner into, he cautiously turned to look at her, his eyes almost popped out of his head before his cheeks turned a bright crimson. Before him was Ladybug…with the ears and tail of a black cat. Making her looking like a cat girl from an anime.

"Don't you say a word, Chat-Bug," Ladybug said, seeing his expression.

Grinning, Chat rested his batons on his shoulders, "I wasn't going to say anything…Lady-Neko," he said.

"Focus!" Ladybug said with a groan, "We need to find her akuma, where could it be?"

Itazura Iodine had so many objects on her costume that it would take the two of them forever to break everything.

"I think I h-HEEEHAW! I think I have an idea as to where," the two heroes turned to see Andrew, dusting off his fedora that he had retrieved off the ground and putting it on, hiding his donkey ears.

"When she went into that gaseous state, the last thing to turn into a gas were the safety goggles on her head. I know Izzy has her own special pair of safety goggles," Andrew recognized them, he was there when Izzy's father gave them to Izzy for her birthday the previous year.

"Maybe that could be where the akuma is-HEEHAW!" he said, his braying catching the heroes off guard, causing Ladybug's new tail to stick out straight, "Ugh, please finish this quickly, I'm getting real sick of that."

Ladybug nodded, "That's the plan, but knowing where the akuma is won't be everything," she said, "Lucky Charm!" she shouted, her yo-yo going into the air, the ladybug magic coming out of it and swirling around itself before creating…

"Bellows?" She asked after catching the squeezable air bag that fell into her hands.

"Are we supposed to blow her away?" Chat Noir asked, being catty as usual.

His comment though caused a lightbulb to go off in Ladybug's head, the bellows…Chat's wings, "Not quite, but you're close," she said, "You said you're getting the hang of those wings, Chat Noir. Let's put that to the test." She said.

"Anything I can do?" Andrew asked, "Izzy is my best friend, and I was kind of an ass to her, no pun intended. Which is probably part of why she was akumatized, so I wanna do everything I can."

Of course Andrew had considered transforming into Ursa, but he didn't know if the transformation would hide his donkey ears and tail, plus brute strength didn't seem like it was gonna cut it with Itazura Iodine.

Ladybug thought for a minute, she certainly didn't want to put any citizens in danger, "Do you know where Lila might be hiding out?" she asked. it was perhaps the least risky thing he could assist with.

* * *

Lila wondered just how many people in school even knew about the library, because it seemed like such an obvious place to hide and yet no one was here, "Hopefully either the akuma or Ladybug is defeated soon," Lila said, "But for now I just need to stay put until everything blows over," she said.

"Oh, Ladybug's defeat is sure to come!"

Lila jumped and looked around the room to spot where the voice was coming from, and from one of the library's air vents a pink gas started leaking out before a cloud erupted from it and swirled around in the air before forming into a body shape and then dispersing to reveal Itazura Iodine, "But first it's your turn. You wanted to fake yours and Andrew's chemistry…so now you get to taste my chemistry!" she said, a manic grin on her face as she formed a gas bomb similar to the one she threw at Lila before, only this one was bigger and even more disgusting looking.

Lila turned and tried to run, but she was knocked to the ground by something – probably the gas bomb – hitting her back, and her fear were confirmed when the gas obscured her vision and her entire body began to tingle, itch, melt, and crawl at the same time.

Chat Noir burst through the library doors, instantly spotting Itazura Iodine…but couldn't see Lila anywhere, "Alright Chemistry Queen, what'd you do with Lila?" He asked.

The mad scientist giggled darkly, "See for yourself, she's right over there," she said, point a gloved finger to one of the corners. Chat looked to where she was pointing and instantly felt sick.

In the corner was a very gross disgusting mass of a lot of different creatures, all of them not the most pretty looking. He could see bits of slug, centipede, cockroach, toad, vulture, and what he thinks was mole rat. It was everything to keep himself from hurling, "I know! Isn't it glorious, my magnum opus, the peak of my horrible mutated abominations!" She declared with a maniacal and very much evil laugh.

As she laughed, the purple butterfly mask appeared in front of her face, _"You've had your fun, now it's time to turn in what is mind, get the miraculous!"_ Hawkmoth's voice echoed in her mind.

"And now that I've peaked in my experimentation," she summoned her bombs, "Now I just need to take you down and get that ring, then your partner is next!" Itazura then started her onslaught.

Chat alternated between dodging, evading, and blocking the gas bombs getting thrown at him. Though it was a bit difficult seeing as he not only had to evade the bombs, but the clouds of gas that exploded out of them. Though he only kept one eye on his foe, the other one kept looking towards Ladybug, who was sneaking into position, not wanting to miss his cue.

After three more bomb dodges he saw Ladybug give him a thumbs up, "You know, this whole ranged attack business really isn't doing you any good," Chat Noir said, "My hypothesis is that you'd do even worse at close combat. You want my miraculous, then come and take it yourself!" he taunted, hoping that the akuma would take the bait.

Itazura Iodine's eyes narrowed, "Well prepare to eat your words Chat!" she said, jumping off her cloud and launching herself at him. However once she was close, with very fitting cat-like reflexes, Chat grabbed one of her wrists, then the other, and then used his ladybug wings to take them both into the air.

Chat smirked, "Gotcha," he said.

She only smirked back, "Better rethink your hypothesis there, I still got my tricks," she said as her body began to go into a gaseous state.

However, once her wrists were free and the gas reached her neck, Ladybug suddenly kept into view, bellows in hand, and then squeezed them before opening the bellows, using it to suck her gaseous body into them before her safety goggles could turn to gas, Chat quickly grabbed the goggles before they fell, "Cataclysm!" He said, turning the pink goggles a blackened brown before crushing them and letting the pieces fall to the floor, the dark purple butterfly emerging from the remains.

After Ladybug squeezed the gas out of the bellows, allowing it to reform into Itazura Iodine, she pulled out her yo-yo and opened it up.

"No more evil-doing for you little akuma," she said before spinning around, "Time to de-evilize!" She said, swing the yo-yo, catching the akuma, the yo-yo closing around it before returning to Ladybug's hand, "Gotcha!" She said, the she opened the yo-yo, allowing the white butterfly to flutter out, "Bye bye little butterfly," she said waving to it before picking up the bellows and throwing it into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" She shouted and the bellowed exploded into the ladybug magic of her Miraculous Cure that began to repair/fix everything.

The magic swept across the library repairing all the damage done to it, restored the heroes back to normal. It swirled around the abomination in the corner turning it back into Lila and flew down the hallways of the school cleaning up all the chemical stains from the chemical bombs. Andrew and all the other students turned back to normal. Lastly Itazura Iodine was covered by the dark bubbling magic that melted away leaving Izzy on the floor, who looked around in confusin.

"Whoa, what happened? How did I get here?" she asked, having no memory of what had just transpired.

"Pound it!" Ladybug and Chat Noir said, sharing their signature fist bump.

Izzy got to her feet, her eyes catching Lila, then after giving her a glare, the Italian quickly left the library. After thinking for a bit, she sighed, "I was akumatized, wasn't I?" Izzy asked, when the heroes nodded she sighed, "Oh well, guess it had to happen eventually," she said, but now she owed Andrew twenty bucks for betting that she'd get akumatized before him.

"We're sorry," Chat Noir said to her, "You were a powerful akuma, in your own way, so that must've been quite the rough time you had prior to being akumatized. You gonna be okay?"

Izzy shrugged, "I'll live, I'll probably just need to head home, the past couple of days of been rough, I think I need a break," she said. She considered going to find Andrew, but that could wait. The heroes nodded in understanding but couldn't saw much more due to miraculous timers ticking down, they both gave Izzy a farewell before leaving the library.

"Isabelle Jones, please come to my office at once!" She heard Principal Damocles speak through the school speakers.

"Seriously? Aww man, I can't catch a break today!" she said, she just got turned into a supervillain and she was still gonna be punished? That's cheap.

* * *

Lila found Andrew fiddling with his locker to get it open, Izzy wasn't with him so she deemed it safe to approach him, "Hey Book Boy," she said, Andrew's only acknowledgement that he heard her was him briefly pausing before going back to working on the lock before getting the door open.

"So, I just want to say thanks, for saving me earlier," Lila said.

Andrew didn't say anything, just put some books in his locker while pulling some out, "Also, I think you'll be glad to know, there's been an opening in my schedule. So, if the offer to teach me violin is still on the table…" she trailed off, giving him an opportunity to speak, but still nothing.

Lila frowned and tilted her head, Andrew being this quiet was…unsettling, "Andrew, is something-" Andrew slammed his locker shut, loud and hard, the noise causing Lila to jump.

The blonde's hand was firmly placed against the locker, his fingers gripping it in a way that seemed like he was trying to crush it, "I'm going to ask this question only once, Lila," Andrew's voice had a tone to it that Lila had never heard before, and it scared her.

"And I expect a complete and honest answer," Andrew turned to look her in the eye, Lila could feel herself shrinking under his gaze.

"Did you see the akuma go after Izzy before it turned her into Itazura Iodine?" He asked firmly, his voice was level, low, and seemed calm; but his eyes gave away everything.

Andrew was beyond angry.

* * *

Izzy walked into Principal Damocles' office fully expecting to get bombarded with lectures from the principal or even her mother, and she was somewhat right. Upon walking in she was bombarded, but not by her mother or the principal, but by her brothers suddenly all up in her business and giving her almost zero personal space. Which may have been worse, but then she began to make out the kinds of things they were bombarding her with?

"Izzy, oh you're alright! Thank goodness! You definitely gave us a good scare there."

"You're right, we are such idiots, how could we not notice this?!"

"I didn't mean all that about your room, it's cleaner than mine honestly!"

"We'll never go into your room again, we'll never mess with your work too."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back it up, back it up, I need to breathe." Izzy said, almost immediately all four of her brothers backed off and shut up, two things she had never seen her brothers do before, "Okay, what's going on here? What are you guys doing here?"

"We saw you turning people into mutants on the Ladyblog, so we rushed here," Alex said.

"Yeah, our baby sister got akumatized, we weren't just gonna ignore that," Jack said, the other three agreeing with him.

Ryland awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, "And we realize that we haven't exactly been the best brother these past few days," he said.

Izzy crossed her arms, "Just these past few days?" she asked.

"Alright, we were never good brothers to do, but we wanna be better," Jason said, "Seeing you akumatized like that was…kinda a wakeup call," he said.

Alex nodded and stepped forward, "Yeah, so we wanna make it up you," he said.

"You do?" Izzy asked, "How?" She asked. The brothers fell silent, looking between each other. Izzy let out a soft snort, it was just like them to not have anything planned-

"Slushees!" Ryland shouted as if he had an epiphany, "We can start by all going out to get slushees, like we used to after big games when you were little," he said.

Jack smiled and nodded, "Hey, that's an idea! It's been forever since we did that…come to think of it, why did we ever stop?" he asked.

Izzy was surprised, her brothers remembered that? The slushy trips were basically the only thing she liked about watching her brothers play sports, they stopped because their mom decided that getting slushees after every game was bad for them. It was so long ago.

"Yeah, and…" Jason continued, trying to think, "After that, we can go home and do a marathon of Izzy's favorite horror movies!"

"Horror movies?" Izzy asked excitedly, then she stopped. "You guys really don't have to do that, don't you guys have your workouts and games?" she said, rubbing her arm.

"Oh…yes we do," Alex said, "But you're family. Family should come before sports. You just got akumatized, so what you need is love of support, and we certainly haven't been providing enough of that. It won't make up for the past, but hopefully further down the line it can make things better."

Izzy…honestly didn't know what to say, all she could do was walk toward her eldest brother and give him a hug. Alex hugged her back and the other three brothers soon joined in making it a group hug, "I love you guys," she said.

"We love you too," they all said.

"Good…now can you please stop suffocating me with your B.O.?" she asked, they all laughed as they released Izzy.

Alex talked with Principal Damocles to have excused from the rest of their classes and proceeded to threaten him to lift the chemistry ban or else he would have something worse than Hawkmoth and Chloe to deal with. The glares the principles got from the brothers were terrifying. Now Izzy realised where she got it from. She felt proud of it. After giving Izzy her chemistry privileges back, the five Jones siblings left the office to start their Siblings Day Out.

* * *

Back at Hawkmoth's lair, the villain was very displeased, "The chemistry of these emotions clearly didn't create a power enough result! But I promise that one day I will orchestrate the chain reaction of elements required to destroy Ladybug and Chat Noir, when that day comes, my experiments with the Miraculous Jewels will begin!" He monologued as the shield closed over the window, shrouding his lair in darkness.

* * *

-*X*x*X*-

* * *

The next day Izzy was walking through the hallways almost with a skip in her step, she had an absolute blast with her brothers. She had forgotten just how much fun they could be when they weren't acting like total jockeys. Plus it was hilarious watching her massive athletic brothers be defeated by brain freezes and watching them jump out of their seats while watching the horror marathon.

"Izzy."

The brunette stopped in her tracks, well, her good start to this morning was fun while it lasted, she turned around, her arms crossed, "What do you want Lila?" She asked.

Lila took a deep breath, "I'mheretosayI'msorry," she said rapidly.

Izzy blinked, "…What was that?" She asked, not quite understanding her.

"I'm here to say…I'm sorry," Lila said, almost forcing the words out like they were painful to say, "Yesterday I saw the akuma going after you before you became Itazura Iodine, and I did nothing to help. I only made things worse…so I'm here to apologize."

Izzy raised an eyebrow, "…Andrew put you up to this, didn't he? You don't mean your apology, he just figured out what happened so he started guilt tripping you, and you're just trying to get him off your back," she said.

Lila groaned, "Fine, yes, it was Andrew that talked me into this, but he didn't just guilt me. He was…angry," she said, almost shuddering at the last part.

Both Izzy's eyebrows went up, "Andrew, angry? You've seen him angry?" She asked.

"You haven't?" Lila asked, giving her both an odd and surprised look.

What Andrew was like when he was angry was perhaps the only think Izzy didn't know about Andrew. Great now she jealous of Lila. Ew, gross. However, even if she probably didn't mean it…Andrew talked Lila into apologizing to her.

"Look, let's get things straight. You don't like me, and I certainly don't like you. I mean like, I can't even stand your entire existence," Lila nodded in agreement, trying not to bite back at that. "But we both like Andrew."

Lila's eyes widened a bit and her cheeks became tinted with red, "What are you talking about? I don't like Andrew, I just hang out with him because no one else will," she said, somewhat defensively.

"…You do know I mean 'like' as in we both enjoy his company and friendship, right?" Izzy asked, honestly she wasn't expecting Lila to react so interestingly.

"Yes, yes of course, just making sure that's what you meant," Lila lied, her cheeks becoming a tint darker, "You were saying?"

"Alright, so we both like Andrew's company, so how about we make a deal? If you and I can be civil towards each other, meaning I won't prank you and you won't spread lies about me, then I can tell Andrew about how sincere your apology was and we can go back to disliking each other; but now we're also tolerating each other's company, for Andrew's sake," Izzy extended a hand.

"Deal?"

Lila considered it before gripping Izzy's hand and shaking it, "Deal," she said, then the two brunettes turned around and walked away from each other, saying nothing more.

* * *

Izzy found Andrew writing in a book while leaning against the wall next the science room door. Taking a deep breath, she approached the blonde. Seeing her approach Andrew marked his place before closing his book, "Hey, how're you feeling?" He asked.

"Better," she said.

There was an awkward silence before Andrew spoke again, "Look, I'm very sorry about the way I've been acting towards you the past few days, I was a jerk and I wasn't being considerate of your feelings. I was being a horrible friend…do you think you can forgive me?" he asked.

"Hmmm…" Izzy said, thinking about it, "After you give me a private performance with that violin, then we'll see," she said with a slight grin.

Andrew chuckled, 'Okay that's fair," he said, the he hesitated before continuing, "Look, about Lila-"

Izzy held up a hand, "I don't like what you're doing with Lila, and I don't have to. It's very unlikely that I ever will like it," she said, "But…you somehow managed to make the Lie-talian sincerely apologize to me. So whatever you're doing, even if I think its dumb and a waste of time, I'll try to keep my objections to it inside," she said.

"I hope you recorded that, because I'm not saying it again," she added, causing both of them to laugh.

"So, we cool?" Andrew asked.

She only shrugged and took his fedora before putting it on, "How about for the time being we just forget about it and talk about something else?" Andrew agreed and the two friends started walking down the hall and started to talk about Andrew's latest painting, Izzy was still wearing the fedora, and Andrew decided to let her continue to war it, just this once. It suited her.

* * *

-*X*x*X*-

W.R. Winters: And scene, not bad, don't you think so?

Starskulls: I'm sorry, but I don't talk to sick evil freaks like you!

W.R. Winters: You're talking to me right now though.

Starskulls: Because clearly you don't know how twisted your mind is and someone needs to educate you!

W.R. Winters: How about instead we respond to last chapters reviews, you have your cupcakes ready?

Starskulls: ...Of course I do, but don't think you're getting any!

* * *

_DragoonSensei  
Four older sporty brothers and a PE teacher mother!_  
_Oohh Sweet Mercyful Harmony poor Izzy!_  
_And Lila just had to start a new scheme wich may cost Andrew best friend._  
_This will be a big challenge for all of them to overcome. I hope Lila won't go to far this time.  
_**Starskulls: I agree, Izzy certainly has it rough, but hopefully things improve for her now that her brothers are a bit more aware of things. Enjoy your cupcake!  
W.R. Winters: Well, sorry to disappoint, but you can't break Izzy and Andrew's friendship that easily.**

_Pinksakura271  
Yea I cut it to close but I will try to free up mew-ore time in the future. After all like Bunnyx in Kitty Blanc said - There's a time for everything, and time is a fragile thing.-_  
_Felix episode was good. He is very slick. Plagg so LOVES hiss Kitten. I LOATHE that Buggy Brat, Stupid Spots, Loserbug, Ladybrat, Insufferable Idiotic Insect and still... I must give her credit. That was one miraculous punch Bug. Right on, guys when us girls say 'NO' stop trying. Kitty is foward yes but NEVER pushy!_  
_As long as you two miraculous lovelies... GIVE MY KITTY SOME PRAISE EVERY CHAPTER (little or not) YOU WON'T LOSE MY ATTENTION!_  
_ON TO MY REVIEW: Right on Izzy - An alarm blared off which was the abruptly smashed by a fist. - I can't remember all the damn alarm clocks I have broken over my years. I feel for you Izzy, athletes always believe their superior. Take Lê Chiên Kim "Mr. Crazy Dares" I call him. He seriously needs a damn clue. In 'Animan' Otis (Alya's dad and Zookeeper) as a purrcious panther should have mauled him!_  
_Anyway... Izzy and her dad David very sweet. Hope to see more moments of them maybe with Andrew. Nerds are mean and very sassy that's how we are. Brawn don't mock Brain or suffer severely. - cartoon characters, a red line started to trail up her body until steam came out of her ears - that's fun. Love that description the most._  
_Why kill him, let alone her? Jones jumping to conclusions. Breath Miss Chief. Andrew and Lila walking into class... Okay be civil children. Lila flirty smiled at Adrien, he waved awkwardly smiling back nice (as usually) Dupain-Cheng turn off that sneer at her. She didn't even say anything yet. Nino/Alya polite but careful understandable. Alya apologizing was overdue._  
_Lila akumatized betting poll that wouldn't solve anything. Jinxx that was uncalled for. Pulling at Lila's hair how old are you... 5 or 5,000 years old? - Maybe he could help as Chat Noir? - oh Adrien wanting to help cute. But NOT the time Kitty. Andrew I believe you walking into walls hurt more than anything._  
_Ursa and Blair deal with worse. Criminals are aware of their actions and purposeful hurt people. Alya show rhem more respect. Nice flashback, Blair he's a bear NOT a dog. Bunnyx doesn't have a fluffy tail. Timetagger was just mocking her._  
_\- The last time she was angry at him was when he had misplaced her chemical equations in a library book. She practically tore the library apart to find them. - Andrew bad Book Boy. Jones could and would have destroyed the library... IT WOULD BE ALL YOUR FAULT!_  
_URSA CALLED BLAIR M'LADY! He's getting influence furom Cattastic Kitty Cat Noir that's miraculous!_**  
Starskulls: And here's the review I always look forward to seeing, I've got your special cupcake right here! I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. And actually the kwamis are all 5,000 CYCLES old so they're way older than that. Remember that Jinxx is also the kwami of mischief so she's bound to act a tad immaturely.  
W.R. Winters: She doesn't have a tail you say? Well this is fanfiction and she should so in this story she does! Always nice to see these nice and long reviews from you. I however can't guarantee that there will be Chat praising in every chapter, but do not worry we wont bash him in any way.**

_Bunnywabbit29  
Izzy's family is so cute!_  
_i have started doing mini meditation exercises whenever lila appears and starts being..well lila._  
_jinxx is great.  
_**Starskulls: Glad you approve of Izzy's family, and praising Jinxx gets you an extra delicious cupcake from me! That meditation thing sounds like a good idea, maybe I should try it...Nah I like imagining her death far too much for that.  
****W.R. Winters: It's always nice to have a way to deal with the rage and anger certain characters give you. Hopefully Izzy's family continued to be cute (not exactly the word I would use but whatever) in this chapter as well.**

_Animegamefanatic  
I despise lila; although i'm gamed for redemption - reason why I like fanfics where she and even chloe are redeemed/heroes; idk I just hate bullies._  
_I feel bad for izzy; her dad's more supportive of her than her siblings and mom. *shivers* I'd hate to see the akumizations caused from them:_  
_Her Mom's akumization (Soccer mom...I know cliché) could be because izzy won't support her family's sport craze anymore, and the fact she can't connect with her daughter or something along those lines._  
_her brothers' akumizations (the Jocks/pentalty quartet or individual wise: Quarterback, All-star, Rebound, and Playmaker (I know corny). ) theirs could be because they either got penalties/banded from the game or something, or because they think someone hurt Izzy or are shocked that their sister thinks they don't love/care about her (maybe she reached a breaking point)._  
_as for her dad, his akumization (Papa bear, or Commander, Disciplinarian) could be because he feels his boys don't respect him, his family won't support izzy and it makes her sad, or something...idk...though I could also see an amok aiding him_  
_that's all my guesses if Izzy's family got akumitized. anyway, Keep up the amazing worK  
_**Starskulls: Ooh another longer review, and you know the rules. The longer the review, the bigger the cupcake! We've never considered what Izzy's parents would be like if they were akumatized, but your ideas are certainly interesting!  
****W.R. Winters: We have once talking about Izzy's brother's being akumatized and you weren't too far off with what we came up with. but sorry to disappoint but it won't be appearing in this story. But it is always fun to bounce ideas around isn't it?**

* * *

**W.R. Winters: And that should do it for this update to our story!**

**Starskulls: We'll be back in two weeks to bring you guys another great chapter! Hopefully by then this sicko will have cleansed himself of evil.**

**W.R. Winters: I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that, , remember to leave a review telling us your thoughts on this story. And actually, we want your thoughts on something specific.**

**Starskulls: Yeah, we want you guys' thoughts on the shipping in this story, what are your thoughts/predictions on how things with turn out romance wise for all the characters, both canon and oc. Cupcakes to all that review as always!**

**W.R. Winters: Happy Thanksgiving, this is W.R. Winters and Starskulls, signing off.**


	6. Chapter 6 Part 1

**Starskulls: Aloha everyone! Guess what! This week, I am going to be doing the introductions!**

**W.R. Winters: Yes so prepare yourself.**

**Starskulls: Don't be rude! We just want to thank everyone who has reviewed on this story so far. We are really having a lot of fun with this chapter. Well I am anyway. We take turns with chapters and I can promise you, this chapter will made you laugh, gasp and pump a fist in the air in satisfaction. There is a little cussing in chapter so be warned. *turns to Wolf * How was that?**

**W.R. Winters: Yeah you were very good! Oh, and due to someone taking her time, no fault of her own, this chapter will also be split into two parts because of the length.**

**Starskulls: What can I say? I'm enjoying writing this chapter. And stop badgering me about how long it took me, I had cupcake crap to deal with!**

**W.R. Winters: Yes but two parts? I'm only seeing this chapter the same time as the readers!**

**Starskulls: Hey, you took your sweet time writing the last one so don't bark at me! Down boy! And you made me insult my cupcakes! *holds up exploding cupcake***

**W.R. Winters: *backs away with hands up* Whoa now, put that down! *runs off***

**Starskulls: *throws it at Wolf and he gets cause in a marshmallow explosion* Ahem. Sorry about that. I have been dying to do that. But anyway, he actually has a new story out! It's called 'A Gift for Lila'. It's really good so check it out on his profile! So enjoy the first part of Sorsurreal!**

**-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

**_Recap of the last chapter: Izzy's rough times were further escalated by an argument with her best friend Andrew (which had been fuel by Lila's meddling), then the icing on the cake was Chloe forcing Principal Damocles into forbidding the use of all the science/chemistry equipment. That was the last and final push that akumatized Izzy into Itazura Iodine, a mad scientist whose specialty was creating chemical gas weapons that mutated people into monstrosities if they were unlucky enough to breathe the gas. Itazura Iodine put up a very touch fight, but Ladybug and Chat Noir were able to beat her and purify the akuma inside her. After turning back into Izzy, she made up with Andrew, agreed to a truce of tolerance with Lila, and also a day of bonding with her older brothers._**

* * *

Chapter 6: Sorsurreal (Part 1)

* * *

It was a quiet few days after the events of Izzy's akumatisation. As well as reconnecting with her brothers, her mother, Jayne, had also found out what had happened. She had been so upset which was shocking to not only Izzy but to her brothers as they had never seen their mother cry. Not even David saw her cry before! Jayne had immediately called the school the next day after Izzy came home and had managed to get her a day off of school to have a day out. They went shopping, gorged on food and ended the day with a nice family night in. Izzy returned to school again incredibly happy. Not only that, but people had actually complimented her on her akumatisation.

The image of Chloe as a cow had spread online. While other sections of the world thought it was clever editing, the students knew the truth. Chloe had of course thrown a hissy fit and demanded it to be taken down. But at this point, too many copies had escaped to the wonders of the internet. The icing on the cake was that people did some sketches of Cow Chloe and had asked Izzy to sign them and take a picture with her. Andrew wasn't one for applauding online harassment (as had been done with Lila) but even he couldn't help but laugh. Needless to say, that no one, especially Chloe, messed with Izzy's science again. Plus, her brain was all rewired and her creativity was refreshed thanks to Andrew's private violin performance.

Concerning her identity as Blair, she was quite upset. It wasn't good for a hero to be akumatised. What if she was needed and she was akumatised. All she caused was trouble. She had apologised to Jinxx a number of times, but the little raccoon had insisted it was okay. It seemed that when the kwami's holders were akumatized, and when in the presence of their owner, the kwami's went into a catatonic state in order to shut off their powers so the actual villain couldn't manipulate them. Other than that, it was pretty harmless.

* * *

At the present moment, Andrew was in his room. He was currently working on something quite special. Not to mention extremely important. Tomorrow, an art contest was being held at school. It was similar to the event Gabriel Agreste had held for the derby hat but only the winning art piece was to be featured in the new art exhibition in the museum. The theme; What Is Your Inspiration. He had decided to complete the painting at home as opposed to school since he was slightly afraid that it would get ruined. He recalled the derby event. There would be not theft here! Paintings were never truly identical and that was a fact that everyone, even the con scammers knew. Only protégées of the highest standard could duplicate work. He would hate for anything to happen to this painting. He was aiming for two victories here. One, to win of course. Second, it was going to be a gift for his mother too. He hadn't let anyone see this. Only Grizz had seen it. Speaking of which, the said kwamii was sleeping on a squeezed-out tube of acrylic paint. Andrew rolled his eyes. He was about to call over to him to ask for his opinion, until a knock came to his ears. He almost fell out of his seat and knocked the canvas off the easel.

"One minute!" Andrew yelled as he scrambled to his feet. His room was fairly tidy, with one side of his room being a whole bookshelf, the opposite side his bed and another side was his desk and chair. The final side of the room was practically a bomb site of paint and brushes at this current time.

He grabbed a nearby blanket, and practically threw it on the canvas. Thankfully it was dry. Andrew was only using a small stick of charcoal to create shadows so it wouldn't be ruined. He glanced over at Grizz and then grabbed a scrap of newspaper and threw it over Grizz. He didn't even flinch. The door then opened quickly and there stood his little sister, Alyssa, with a plate of cakes. She was only thirteen but yet her intelligence was baffling. She did want to be a lawyer when she grew up, so her nose was always in a book. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree there. She had brown eyes and her hair was tied back in a ponytail. She wore a black sleeved shirt under a jean jacket and a plaid knee length skirt.

"Cupcake?" she asked. Andrew let out a loud sigh.

"Didn't I tell you when I came in that I didn't want to be disturbed?" he said with a frown.

"You did," Alyssa said with a nod.

"And?" Andrew continued.

"I didn't listen," Alyssa replied. Andrew wanted to bang his head on something, but the closest thing was the canvas and he didn't want to do that. Wait a minute. That response.

"Has Izzy been around here?" Andrew asked.

"No, she called me asking how you were. She said she didn't text you cause and I quote, 'His undies are so tightly wound right now that if he sneezed, he would pop,' so she called me," Alyssa said simply.

"Izzy…!" Andrew internally cursed and if this was an anime world, he would have dropped to the floor ungracefully. With his sister's plain tone (speaking like a lawyer) it made the situation more awkward.

"Remind me again why you have her number?" Andrew deadpanned.

"She and I are developing the idea of exploding cupcakes," she answered. Andrew went as white as a sheet. Those two? Cupcakes? Explosions? That would be worse than Hawkmoth!

"If I eat all those cakes, promise you won't do that," Andrew pleaded.

There was a pause.

"Request denied," Alyssa said, placing the plate of cupcakes on the nearby cabinet and then left quickly and swiftly.

"Unbelievable," Andrew muttered. His eyes went to the cupcakes.

They weren't on the standard of the Dupain Cheng bakery but were pretty yummy as he had tried them before. He wasn't sure if he could stomach them now due to the event tomorrow. He always got a bit queasy for stuff like this. He'd save them for later. He carefully pulled the blanket off of the canvas and admired it. He couldn't wait to show it to the crowd and most of all, his mother. His eyes then went to the newspaper he threw on Grizz. Yup, he was still snoring away.

"Honey…" Grizz mumbled in his sleep, making Andrew chuckle. His eyes then went over to his phone.

"I may as well take a break," he said with a yawn.

Grabbing his phone, he headed to his bed and lay down and opened his contacts. True to his sister's word, he had no texts from Izzy and was thankful that she knew that he needed to concentrate. Still, he did need to drop her a quick message to show that he was alive.

AndrewPaints: Hey Izzy, still alive. Thanks for resisting the urge to send over videos of you blowing colour bombs in your face for encouragement.

* * *

_TutuChemistry: Yo! Glad to hear you're not dead! How goes the canvas?_

_AndrewPaints: It's going great. I am almost finished. I'm bringing it into school first thing to set up. It's not leaving my sight._

_TutuChemistry: Aye sir, and I'll guard it with my life._

_AndrewPaints: No offense, but I don't want any *ahem* colour bombs going off._

_TutuChemistry: You wound me darling. You make me out to be such a villain in your work._

_AndrewPaints: Well I am an artist. Do you know why artists make good story tellers?_

_TutuChemistry: …Why?_

_AndrewPaints: They can really paint you a picture!_

_…_

_AndrewPaints: Izzy?_

_TutuChemistry changed your name to You're-Punbelievable_

_…_

_TutuChemistry: I regret nothing you monster._

_You're-Punbelievable: … -_- You suck._

_TutuChemistry: Sustained._

_You're-Punbelievable: STOP BRAIN WASHING MY SISTER!_

_*You have one new message from LilaRossi*_

_LilaRossi: Hey._

_AndrewDavies: Hey._

_LilaRossi: You still mad?_

_AndrewDavies: …No. you apologised to Izzy. There's a truce. We're all good._

_LilaRossi: Whatever. So, you're in that competition, tomorrow right?_

_AndrewDavies: That I am._

_LilaRossi: What's your piece?_

_AndrewDavies: Can't say._

_LilaRossi: What, you don't trust me or something?_

_AndrewDavies: No, I haven't told anyone. I want it to be a surprise._

_LilaRossi: I see._

_AndrewDavies: The competition starts at noon. You want to come?_

_LilaRossi: Really?_

_AndrewDavies: Sure, it'll be fun. Think the usual group will be there._

_LilaRossi: Including Izzy?_

_AndrewDavies: Obviously. Relax, she'll be more focused on the judges than you._

_LilaRossi: Meaning?_

_AndrewDavies: Meaning that if they don't give me first place, she'll punch them._

_LilaRossi: You're kidding right?_

_AndrewDavies: Do you remember that Creative Writing contest a few months ago?_

_LilaRossi: Yeah, the main judge left with...ohhh I see now._

_AndrewDavies: Yup._

_LilaRossi: I'll see you tomorrow then. Or not, whatever, I have to look at my schedule._

_AndrewDavies: Later Lila_

_LilaRossi: Bye._

* * *

"Well that was a good conversation," Andrew said as he sat up and stretched. He put his phone on his bed side table and went over to the canvas to examine the painting once more in thought.

Lila was slowly getting better with conversation and after the whole mutation incident, it was great that they were still talking. He was initially mad and had ignored her calls and texts on the night of the akuma attack and had vented by playing the violin till one in the morning. Then his sister came in and threw a law book at his head.

"You need sleep," Grizz's tired voice said as he woke up groggily.

"I know, I'm just too nervous to sleep," Andrew replied as he pulled out his pjs. Grizz then floated over to his pillow and started to curl up.

"Your mother will like the painting you know," Grizz told him.

"I know," Andrew said with a smile. He was just about to head to the bathroom to change until his phone vibrated again. He picked up his phone and looked at it. Izzy had messaged him again. He was almost afraid to look.

* * *

_TutuChemistry: Do you know why you should never trust an atom?_

_You're-Punbelievable: No…._

_TutuChemistry: They make up everything._

_You're-Punbelievable: …_

_TutuChemistry: Hurts, doesn't it?_

_You're-Punbelievable: I hate you._

* * *

-*X*x*X*-

* * *

The next day was bright and sunny. The perfect weather for an art competition. With Grizz in his pocket, buried in tissue, and his canvas safely secured in his case, he headed downstairs for breakfast. If he could stomach it that is. The table was spread with a good amount of food, with his sister and father seated at the table; both reading the newspaper.

"Morning," Andrew said cheerfully.

"Morning!" his sister said cheerfully.

"How are you feeling?" his father, Reed asked as he lowered the paper.

As a professor, he wore the usual attire; a white dress shirt with a grey vest with a tweed jacket. he had matching grey slacks and a brown leather belt to match his brown shoes. His hair was in loose shoulder length ponytail and his glasses (similar to Andrew's) was perched on the bridge of his nose. His Donegal-style beard was all trimmed, ready for the event.

"I'm okay, just a bit jittery," Andrew admitted as he poured his milk into his cereal bowl.

"You'll be fine kiddo. Izzy and a few other friends will be cheering you on, right?" Reed asked.

"Yeah," Andrew said with a shrug.

"Then I guess you won't need us!" a cheerful voice said, and Andrew felt his fedora being placed on his head. He smiled as his mother came around with a warm smile on her face.

"You know that's not true," Andrew said with a smirk as he tipped his fedora.

His mother, Hanna was always cheerful. She was a neurologist and psychiatrist, so she was always seen bustling around the house with a notebook in hand. She was casually dressed when in the house but when venturing outside, she always wore smart outfits. Today, she wore a white dress shirt, a blue cardigan and a flowing black skirt that ends just above her ankles.

"I'm so sorry I can't be there. Darn work always gets in the way. At least your father and sister will be there with Izzy and all your friends! You have a new friend too? Lila wasn't it?" Hanna asked.

After the whole incident with Izzy, Andrew had told her clearly that Lila was not his girlfriend. She had been horrified at the whole incident as she had known Izzy since she was young and she was Andrew's first friend and vis versa.

"Yeah, it's gonna be great!" Andrew said, a lot more relaxed now.

"Say, are the judges going to be the same as last time? From the writing contest?" Reed asked curiously.

"No, they'll be different. Why?" Andrew asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well I saw one of them last week when I was coming back from a tutoring lesson. He was walking with a bit of limp. Was he in some sort of accident?" he asked.

"Uh…" Andrew said awkwardly. Damn it, Izzy, are your fists made of iron?!

"The thing starts at lunch, right?" Alyssa asked.

"Correct," Andrew said as he finished up the last of his cereal. He slung his case over his shoulder and titled his fedora.

"Have you got everything?" Hanna asked as she folded her arms sternly. She was seriously organised, and she always liked to double check everything.

"Yep," he said.

"Are you sure?" Hanna asked again. Andrew rolled his eyes.

"Yes! I double checked everything!" he insisted.

"Alright, just checking! What exactly is this painting? You haven't shown anyone. Do I really have to wait until I get home to see it?" Hanna said.

Andrew bit his tongue. He really wanted to show her as this was a gift. Not to mention that it was her birthday on the weekend. It would be like an early birthday present. This was so important, he had to get this right.

"You'll have to wait and see sorry!" Andrew said quickly and practically bolted out of the room. Hanna yelled something on the lines of luck after him as well as his father and sister.

"Close call," a muffled voice said from his pocket.

"You're telling me," Andrew said as he took a deep breath and started to walk in the direction of school.

* * *

Granted the event didn't start till noon, but he wanted to set it up. Since he was part of the competition, he had the morning classes off to prepare his stand and to add any last-minute changes. He was starting to get excited now. He was only halfway to school until he saw Izzy standing in their usual meeting spot, but he had to blink twice. She was standing…with…Lila? Did he run into some sort of alternate universe where unicorns ruled the earth, and everyone lived in peace and happiness?!

"Morning Andy!" Izzy yelled over, making Lila wince at the noise.

"Morning Izzy. Morning Lila. Not a usual duo I'd expect to see," Andrew commented.

"First you complain about me hating her guts, and now you're complaining in her atmosphere. I can't win," Izzy said with her arms folded. Lila scoffed.

"It's no picnic being in your atmosphere either, Clown," Lila sneered.

"Oh, shut up Loser," Izzy snapped back. Ah this was more like it, Andrew thought internally as he sweat dropped as he saw the ominous clouds wafting between the girls.

"Okay then…shall we?" Andrew asked awkwardly.

The pair then nodded, and they stood on opposite sides of him as they headed to school. It was weird. Andrew knew the girls detested each other and they called each other names still but they didn't even seem that offended by it. It was like they were Golden Girls.

"So, do we finally get to see this masterpiece?" Izzy asked.

"You'll see it at noon like everyone else," Andrew replied, making Izzy pout once again.

"What is the big deal about this art competition? I've seen others babble about it, but you seem…" Lila started.

"Uptight, crazy and…manic?" Izzy listed.

"All of the above," Lila said, although she shuddered slightly when she agreed with Izzy.

"Alright! It's just special that's all. It means a lot to me," Andrew said as a light pink was now dusted on his cheeks.

"Well either way it's gonna be great! I will guard it with my life," Izzy said as the school started to come nearer.

"You need to be in class. I'll be fine," Andrew said as the rounded up to the steps of school. The set up was in the courtyard so they had to part ways.

"Ugh fine. But don't take no crap from anyone," Izzy warned as she gave him a slight punch on the shoulder for luck before bouncing off.

"Yeah, good luck or whatever," Lila said as she headed off after Izzy as they had the same class.

* * *

The courtyard was filled with art easels and only a few were there, all covered in sheets. They were all going to be revealed when the judges and the crowd appeared. That was good. He didn't want the surprise to be ruined.

"Alright, let's get this started," Andrew said to himself as he went over to the easel with his name printed on it.

He placed his case on the floor and carefully opened it. He had wrapped in soft sheets to protect it. He lifted the sheet a little. He breathed a sigh of relief as it wasn't damaged. He lifted it carefully and placed it on the easel. He stood back and examined it. Yes, the sheet was still covered but he was still paranoid about it.

"Might want to give it an extra polish with charcoal," Grizz's tired voice came from his burrow in the pocket.

"Good idea," Andrew muttered as he turned around get a spare piece from his back. No sooner had he found it, a shrill voice that strangely belonging to a human, entered his ears.

"Ugh, is this what you're submitting? It looks like trash!" the voice sneered.

"Well it's a good thing I didn't ask your opinion Chloe," Andrew said with an irritated look in his eye.

Chloe had annoyingly lifted up a piece of the fabric on the painting and was eyeing it up. Andrew stepped in front of the painting, forcing her to take a step back. That didn't damper the look in her eye. Her evil plotting eye. Ugh.

"So rude! Everyone wants my opinion!" Chloe said with a hair flick.

"Really?" Andrew asked as he looked around. "From what I can tell, everyone seems to be running away from your opinions. You really like milking it don't you?"

"How dare you?!" Chloe shrieked. Andrew didn't even blink. Man, he was getting his mean streak from Izzy. Was it bad? Meh not really.

"So, are you done? I'm busy here," Andrew asked as he turned his back on her. Sadly, she was not. She let out an annoyed huff and folded her arms.

"Your art is horrible, you know. Especially since you didn't use moi as a muse," she told him arrogantly.

"Chloe, I don't think you realise how long it takes to do a piece like this or any other piece in this competition. This is my work. If you want to be a muse, then have a personality change," Andrew said with an eye roll. Chloe let out an annoyed growl and stormed off.

"Good call," Grizz mumbled.

"I know. Her opinion doesn't matter to me at all but do think it needs changing?" Andrew asked uncertainly.

"No. This represents your art really well. Don't doubt yourself," Grizz said.

Andrew smiled and was about to thank him until he heard light snoring from his pocket. Must've fallen asleep again, he thought. Well, let's get this thing started.

* * *

Lunch couldn't have come soon enough. Izzy was practically bouncing in her seat. Lila was fairly eager to see what Andrew had done. Not that she showed this of course. She wouldn't demean herself by acting like an actually…well clown like Izzy. She had joined Izzy, Adrien, Nino and annoyingly, Marinette. The place was filled with people; families and friends for the people in the competition.

"Wow, this is quite a turn out!" Adrien commented.

"I'll say, it's a pretty sweet gig," Nino agreed. Alya was currently live streaming the competition via phone. Marinette had her sketchbook with her since this was a perfect place to get inspired for new fashion ideas.

"C'mon, when is this gonna start?" Izzy said impatiently.

"Could you be less irritating?" Lila commented.

"Could you lessen your actual existence in the world?" Izzy retorted. Lila puffed her cheeks out and Marinette did her best not to snicker.

"Hey, I thought you guys are okay now?" Alya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Meh," the girls answered.

"That's…something I guess," Adrien said awkwardly.

"Oh man, if those judges are jerks to Andrew, I'm gonna…" Izzy started.

"Going to what dear? I thought you had better control," an amused voice said. Izzy nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Andrew's family come up behind them, minus his mother.

"Ah no uh, I'm just…! Ah forget it. If they give him a bad score, I'll kick their behinds to China!" Izzy said with a grin.

"That's oddly specific," Reed chuckled; always amused by her comments. Alyssa stifled a laugh too.

"Oh yeah, I'm being rude. Guys, this is Reed and Alyssa Davies. Andrew's family," Izzy said, the family then giving a small wave.

"Nice to meet you," everyone chorused.

Lila had to blink at one name. Reed? As in Reed Davies?! Oh, she was so going to murder Andrew when she saw him next. He knew all along that she was nearly a student for his father's lessons! Jeez what else was he hiding?

"Does anyone know what's painted?" Marinette asked.

"Not a clue. The evidence is unclear," Alyssa said.

"That's a way of putting it," Alya chuckled.

"Lawyer," Izzy mouthed to the group, who nodded in understanding.

"These are pretty high-profile judges, aren't they?" Reed said as his eyes went over to the judges table.

"Isn't that Gabriel Agreste?" Alyssa asked as she pointed over at the table. Sure, enough he was there…digitally that is. Natalie was there with Gorilla and had the usual tablet with Gabriel's live feed plastered on the screen.

"You know, I bet in the future, he'll be here by holographic projection," Izzy theorised.

"You're ridiculous," Lila responded.

"Ew don't say that, you sound like Chloe. That is an insult but not directed at you," Izzy pointed out. Annoyingly enough, there was logic in that sentence.

"Yeah I walked into that one. Is she even here? Figured she'd be complaining about not being the centre of attention," Lila deadpanned. She had seen the mayor here to open the competition so she must be.

"Not that I'm complaining, but it is weird that she's not here," Nino said.

"Maybe she isn't here," Adrien shrugged but found that very unlikely.

"Sssh, if you say her name three times, you'll summon her!" Izzy warned.

"Now, now. It isn't nice to talk about people behind their backs," Reed stated. Everyone looked at him.

"She's the mayor's daughter," Marinette pointed out.

There was a pause.

"Do continue," Alyssa and Reed said together.

They had experience of that family. The mayor had one questioned Hanna's ability to do her job because of Chloe's rudeness. Not only that, but Reed had lost one of his precious violin's when he had been called to give Chloe a lesson. The mayor hadn't even reprimanded her for breaking it, nor offered to pay for the damage. Alyssa had read enough news articles to have her own distaste for them.

"So, who else is there?" Alya asked as she tried to get a better look.

"Well there's my dad, a few of the local museum artists and…I think that's Minerva De Lamote," Adrien said as he squinted to get a better look.

"Oh damn," Izzy whistled.

Minerva was a world-famous artist, well known for her beautiful brush work and attention to detail, especially in realism. She had an identic memory and could paint any species down to the finest detail, including veins in plants and the iris itself. She was a person who really knew her work. She was dressed in a sleek black jumpsuit, high heels, and had her black hair pulled back incredibly tightly. Her make-up was also flawless. Andrew respected her and her work immensely.

"You know, I was once…" Lila started but then paused mid-lie. Andrew's voice echoed in her head.

"You keep up with that attitude, then not even the losers will want to hang out with you."

"You were saying something Lila?" Marinette asked, clearly expecting a load of rubbish to come out of her mouth but was surprised when her mouth shut. This was new.

"Nothing. It was nothing," she said as she looked over at something else.

"Oh, double damn," Izzy mumbled.

She had stopped when she was about to tell a lie? Maybe Andrew was a wizard. That had to take some effort. All of the artists had now assembled, with black sheets covering their canvas's. the judges were going to do the judging individually, so everyone would be looking at one art piece at a time. This was gonna be tense. Andrew was standing by his painting, looking incredibly nervous. The principal then tapped the microphone and cleared his throat.

"Thank you all for coming! We have twenty wonderful artists' here today! The winner's piece will of course be featured in the gallery. The two runner ups will be given an artist's pack of the highest quality! Now let the judging commence!"

* * *

Time was going incredibly slow for Andrew. It had been about half an hour so far and they were a painting away from him. So far, everyone else had been doing well. Some of the work was amazing; such detail and work had gone into it. He had managed to sneak a wave to his family and friends, but he was trying to keep himself breathing. The judges only seemed to nod and write on their clipboards than mainly talk, aside from asking the occasional question. The handed over an envelope of feedback at the end when the winners were announced so at least that was something. He wasn't that arrogant as to shy away from criticism. You could always improve no matter what you did.

"Andrew Davies?" Minerva asked, in her strong French accent, breaking Andrew out of his thoughts.

"Hello, it's a pleasure," Andrew said, clearly and politely.

"What is your inspiration?" Gabriel asked as Minerva and the other two judges readied their pens and clipboards.

"My inspiration comes from someone in my life. She is what I strive to be like. Strong, kind, independent and always gives 100% in what she does. I wouldn't be who I am without her. I present to you, my mother, my inspiration," Andrew said as he pulled down the sheet.

The painting had a beautiful use of colours with a small form of cubism when it came to the brush strokes. It was fairly realistic, but it gave the impression that she was something more than human. A gentle goddess if you will. Her natural smile was a wonderful aspect to look at. Murmurs came from the crowd as the judges nodded and muttered amongst themselves as they took notes.

"Materials?" Minerva asked.

"Acrylic and the occasional charcoal shading," Andrew answered. They wrote and discussed more for about two minutes.

"Thank you very much," one of the judges said, as they moved onto the next painting. Andrew let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. He wished he could see his mother's face, but he couldn't see that far back. He hoped she liked it.\

* * *

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Marinette said with a wide smile.

"That's such a nice thing to do!" Alya said with a nod from Nino.

"Yeah it is," Adrien said; his thoughts going to his own mother and he did his best not to get emotional. His father must appreciate the thought in that painting.

"He did really well," Lila said with a small smile.

"Oh, my goodness," Reed said as he dried a tear with his finger. Reed then put an arm around his smiling daughter; incredibly proud of his son. Another sniff made Lila look over.

"Why are you crying?" Lila asked Izzy in slight amusement, who was looking up in order to not let tears fall down her face.

"I'm not crying, you're crying!" Izzy said, giving her a shove and doing a dramatic wave and turned away from her friends; making them laugh slightly.

"That's gotta put him up high on the board!" Nino said eagerly.

"Guess we will have to see," Lila muttered, secretly crossing her fingers.

* * *

It was an agonising wait, but the judging finally ended. They were now in the centre of the displays, with the crowd forming a large outward circle. All of the competitors had received their feedback in envelopes, but none had been opened yet. The results had to be announced first. Andrew was practically twitching with his friends and family feeling similar. At some point, he had pulled a spare paintbrush out of his jacket and held it for luck.

"Thank for all of the competitors, it was truly wonderful to see your work. But there are three people here, whose work stood out from the rest. The two runners up are…" Minerva started as she read out the card.

"Come on…" Alyssa muttered as she held hands with Izzy.

"Ocean Dales and Charlie Lyell!" Minerva read out.

The two said people let out happy cheers and headed to the centre of the circle to shake hands with the judges aside from Gabriel and received certificates and vouchers for their art prizes. One had done a portrait of her love of animals and the other, a beautiful field of flowers. Andrew's shoulders slumped slightly. There was first place. Would it be possible?

"And the person who will be featured in the gallery is…" Minerva started.

"Please…" Marinette pleaded.

"Elena Yule!" Minerva said, with the winner squealing in happiness and loud cheers ringing out. Her painting of the city of Paris in winter was truly remarkable.

She came up to the front and shook hands with all the judges with a gleeful smile on her face. Applause rung out but to Andrew, it felt like it was drowning out his sense of hearing. Of course part of his wasn't expecting to make the top three, there were a lot of talented artists in this competition after all, but still.

He had worked so hard on it. Not only was it a gift but it was really important to him. He tightened the grip on the brush and envelope with his feedback in his hands and decided to open it. He scanned over the positive parts, but his eyes went straight to the negative.

_"Lacks the realism expected of your inspiration."_

"Realism? How does that effect my painting? My mother is my inspiration. That's real enough," Andrew muttered. As the crowd began to shift, he decided to run after Minerva in order to ask her a question.

* * *

"Son of a mongoose!" Izzy scowled as she began to stomp forward, but Reed held her back.

"Oh no, I don't want to be calling your mother to pick you up from a jail cell," he warned. Izzy growled in annoyance as she folded her arms and a tick appeared on her forehead.

"I'll represent you in court," Alyssa offered.

"Don't encourage her," Lila said, although she was pretty annoyed too. That painting was pretty amazing, and she knew her own mother would have loved it.

"Yeah it's too bad," Marinette said sadly. Although in the back of her mind, and unknown to her, Adrien's, she was worried that anyone feeling bitter about losing would be akumatized.

* * *

"Excuse me! Miss Lamote?" Andrew called. She turned around from her conversation with another judge and looked at him plainly.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I was just wondering, what did you mean by the lack of realism? Just so I know so I can improve for the next contest," Andrew asked politely.

"Well to put it simply, until your art becomes more realistic in all elements, it will never be worth anything," Minerva said bluntly as she then turned and walked away to speak to someone else.

"Never?" Andrew whispered to himself as he tried to blink away his tears.

To hear that from someone he respected so much, and to be so harsh? No! this was exactly the kind of emotion that gave power to Hawkmoth! He was a hero. He wouldn't succumb to emotions like this. His mother would love it! That was something. Yeah, she would be looking forward to seeing it.

"Didn't I tell you your work sucked?" a smug voice said.

Oh no, not now! He turned back to see that Chloe was stood dangerously near his work. He his fixated on her so he didn't even notice his friends and family approaching it. The main thing he was looking at was the large cup of hot liquid in Chloe's hand.

* * *

"Oh no," Nino said as he saw the current situation.

"Nino hold my phone," Alya started but was quickly restrained by Nino and Adrien.

* * *

"Chloe, I do recall saying that I didn't care for your opinion," Andrew said calmly, ignoring the dread in his stomach.

"Ugh well you should have listened. Your art is worth nothing you know. Its ugly. Who is this lady in it? She needs a face lift," she said cruelly.

"Do not talk about my mother like that," Andrew practically growled. Oh man, Izzy was impressed and nervous at the same time. Now she knew what Lila meant. Even Lila was shocked.

"And don't talk about my wife like that young lady," Reed said in warning as he stepped forward.

"Excuse me, who do you think you are talking to my daughter like that?" Mayor Bourgeois said as he suddenly entered the conversation as he stood opposite Reed. This had now caused a stir and people were turning towards the situation.

"I am defending my son's work from your daughter's cruel comments," Reed responded calmly.

"Nonsense. Chole was only helping him," the mayor defended.

"Is he deaf as well as stupid?" Lila said in wonder, earning her a glare from Chloe and a snicker from her friends. Izzy had been oddly quiet.

"You know what? Since I am so generous, I will help you fix this utterly ridiculous painting," Chloe said as she then placed a hand on the canvas. Andrew's heart skipped a beat.

"Don't-!" he started but the painting had already been pushed over onto the floor. Gasps rung out. The canvas was now slightly ripped on the edges from the impact to the floor.

"Chloe!" Adrien yelled.

"How could you do that?" Alyssa shouted.

"Mayor Bourgeois, I highly advise that you remove your daughter from the premises!" Reed said angrily.

"It was an accident!" the mayor said insistently.

"Are you BLIND?" Alya shouted. Izzy again, said nothing. Something was brewing in her mind. It was going to blow soon.

"Oops," Chloe said innocently as she then did the unthinkable.

Her wrist twisted and the liquid poured out of her cup and onto the painting. The liquid melted the paint, causing it to slide off of the canvas and onto the floor. The face was immediately ruined. Andrew's eyes filled with tears as a million emotions went through his head. So many long weeks and hours of work. Ruined. His mother would be devastated. Turning on his heel, he ran out of the courtyard and out of the school doors. He disappeared in the crowd, so no one saw where he went.

* * *

The familiar sound of a window opening dawned on Hawkmoth and his many butterflies. The room was alit with a mysterious blue light. Hawkmoth grinned to himself as the feeling of negative emotions was coming in like a storm.

"Ah an artist who is underappreciated; rejected from praise and publicly ridiculed. His spirit and heart broken. What a fine inspiration for my little akuma," Hawkmoth said to himself as a butterfly came to his hand. After a cup of his hands, the purple cracked butterfly now replaced the beautiful white one.

"Fly away my little akuma and evilise this broken artist!" Hawkmoth said with a laugh as the akuma left the building and flew through Paris.

* * *

"CHLOE!" Alya yelled.

"That was awful! He worked so hard on it!" Marinette said angrily.

"You're the worst!" Alyssa said as tears came to her eyes and she held onto Lila for support, who surprisingly, gave her a hug while glaring at the blond beast. Alya was being restrained by Marinette now too. Izzy was standing still, with clenched fists. Marinette was worried about her too, she didn't want her to blow.

"That was no accident!" Reed said in a rage as he tried to find his son.

"It was a slip of the wrist!" the mayor insisted but murmurs in the crowd said differently.

"Ugh please, I helped him," Chloe insisted as she dropped the cup on the painting and folded her arms with a grin. Adrien was about to say something, but he noticed that Izzy was now moving. More specifically, she was approaching Chloe.

"Izzy?" he asked cautiously. The crowd now went quiet as they saw movement. She now stood in front of Chloe. Her eyes were hidden by her bangs. There was a pause.

"Can I help you?" Chloe asked snottily.

_SLAP!_

"Ahhh!" Chloe shrieked in pain as she fell to the floor, holding her now bright red cheek.

It was already swelling. The mayor didn't even move as the slap was so quick, he was still processing it. The crowd gasped but the evidence of hidden cheers was clearly there. Chloe looked up at Izzy and was now able to see Izzy's eyes. Her own eyes widened in horror. The green irises had shrunk down into small dots, with red veins coming at the corners of her eyes. A dark shadow seemed to be cast over them. It was demonic.

"If he gets akumatised because of you, I will kill you. That is a promise. Do I make myself clear?" Izzy asked dangerously.

"D-dadd-?" Chloe started but Izzy had her up by the scruff of her jacket.

"Do you understand?" she hissed.

"Y-yes…" Chloe stuttered; being dropped to the floor instantly, with the mayor coming to her side. He was about to speak but saw the look on Izzy's face. Izzy then turned her back on the pair and took a few steps away. She then stopped and lifted her head slightly.

"What did you see today? A cruel joke? Standing up for a friend? You decide. Your Mayor and Queen Bee everyone. Principle Damocles? What do you call bullying again?" Izzy asked before heading out of the room to look for her friend. Reed instantly followed her as well as Alyssa.

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Marinette agreed.

"Yeah," Adrien said, earning a horrified look from Chloe.

"Amen," Alya and Nino said before all of the friends headed after Izzy. There was a pause as Lila looked one last time at Chloe.

"Bitch," she grinned as she headed out after the group.

* * *

Andrew was now sitting in the park, feeling completely dejected. He was gripping the envelope so tightly it had crumpled into a tiny ball. The paintbrush was almost at snapping point. His fedora was pulled down, so his eyes were covered but tears were streaming down his cheeks. His jaw was tightly clenched.

His mind was so focused on nothing but hatred, he didn't even see the akuma. It landed on the paintbrush, covering it in a dark purple. The tears stopped and the crumpled envelope was dropped. His posture straightened and his head lifted. The top half of his face turned a rusty dark colour and the familiar glowing purple butterfly mask appeared in front of his face. His sad expression turned into one of anger and bitterness. The envelope of feedback dropped out of his hands and fluttered to the floor.

_"Sorssureal. I am Hawkmoth. Your art has been turned down and destroyed by those who know nothing of your talent. I am offering you the power to make them respect your work. All I ask in return are Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. Are you ready to paint the ultimate masterpiece?"_

"A true artist is not one who is inspired but one who inspires others. Everyone will see the true meaning of my art!" Andrew said sinisterly as he stood up from the bench and let the dark purple aura take over his body.

* * *

Back in the school, Chloe was still in angry tears while the mayor was doing his best to comfort her.

"I-I want h-her e-expelled!" Chloe spluttered out.

"That behaviour is unacceptable!" Mayor Bourgeois said although he was clearly buckling from the glares he was getting from the crowd.

"With all due respect, I think Chloe's behaviour was much worse," the principal said with a frown.

He recalled back to when Izzy was akumatised and what her words were. He was starting to see what she meant; he had just been swayed by the higher authority. No. he had authority. He was the leader of the school. And he was…The Owl!

"I couldn't agree more!" a voice said with a smooth but harsh tone.

Everyone looked around but no one came forward. Suddenly, there was a clatter as all of the paintings fell of their easels and the paint started to melt off of them. Everyone cried out in shock as the paint formed into one big puddle and then exploded in a splatter and a puff of colourful smoke. A figure then emerge from the smoke and hovered in the air.

Almost his entire outfit was the colour of muslin and was splattered with all different colours of the rainbow. He wore the outfit of a renaissance squire; a collared canvas shirt, brown leather vest, paint splattered slacks and brown leather boots over the outfit is a wizard's robe with large pain splatters that's reminiscent of a starred rob. On his head is his fedora but it now looked like a fusion between a fedora and a pointed wizards cap with the same large paint splatters.

His eyes looked like a rainbow colouring wheel and there were no glasses covering them. Instead on his face, was a butterfly mask of paint splatters of multiple colours. His skin was much paler, like a blank canvas and his hair is now much longer and was now the colour of fresh white paper. His paintbrush was a staff as tall as he is with a golden handle with fresh white bristles as if it had never touched paint.

"This is outrageous! Who do you think you are?" Mayor Bourgeois said angrily. The akuma twirled his brush staff in his hand.

"Who am I? I am the artistic wizard Sorsurreal! It's time to give you an abstract reality check!" Sorsurreal said as he aimed the staff at the mayor.

A bright colourful light burst out of it and it struck the mayor. Everyone yelled out in fright as the mayor screamed and vanished. Now in his place was a floating canvas, with the mayor now in paint from plastered on the canvas. He was in a dark shade, holding his hands to his face, in a screaming position. Much like the work of Edvard Munch, it was a remarkable resemblance but terrifying. Everyone immediately scattered in panic while Chloe screamed and practically trampled over her father's portrait. Sorsurreal laughed as he watched everyone and started to fire out more paint blasts, reducing the number of people and increasing the number of canvas's in different styles of art.

"Come forward judges! Let me paint you a picture!" Sorsurreal said with a dark glare. The butterfly mask was highlighted over his face.

_"Excellent craftmanship Sorsurreal. Create your art to draw out Ladybug and Chat Noir and you will be able to create the ultimate art piece!"_

* * *

"Andrew?" Marinette called. She was getting worried now, as was everyone else. She, Lila, Adrien and Izzy had gone to search the park. Alya and Nino went back to the school while Reed ad Alyssa headed home to see if he had gone back.

"This is useless, we are never going to find him at this rate!" Lila complained.

"ANDREW! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Izzy practically shrieked.

"Where did you get a megaphone from?" Adrien asked, turning to look at her…only to see she wasn't actually using one. Was it even possible for a human to yell that loud?

"Funny Adrien. This is no time for jokes!" Izzy said with a frown. They were now standing by the side of the fence of the park; having pretty much explored the rest of it.

"Uh oh," Marinette said as she bent down to pick up an envelope that had blown into her feet.

"What?" Lila asked.

"I think this was his feedback from the judges," Marinette said as she examined it.

"Should we look at it? I mean, I want to find him but it's not even ours to look at…" Adrien started.

"Gimme," Izzy said as she swiped it off the bluenette and opened it up.

"You have no respect from privacy, do you?" Lila asked.

"I could say the same to you for honesty," Izzy said, not looking up as she scanned the letter.

"You…!" Lila started but stopped when Izzy held up her hand.

"Yeesh. Those judges let him have it. I guess when he was talking to them, they didn't really explain it well either," Izzy said, making the group come around. They winced when they saw the feedback.

"That's the toughest part of this industry," Marinette said, recalling the amount of online feedback for her designs. While she appreciated it, some were just plain mean. There was a fine line between constructive criticism and just being straight up insultive. Adrien nodded in understanding as he had seen his father criticise many people. He frowned when he realised that some of the harsh comments had mostly come from his father.

"So, he was here. But where was he now?" Izzy asked. There was a pause until all four of their phones vibrated. Looking at each other in confusion, they pulled them out to see Alya live streaming from the school.

"Hey guys, this is Alya coming in from the school live! We have a new villain going by the name of Sorsurreal and he seems pretty angry! Check it out!

The screen flipped to reveal Sorsurreal flying over the school grounds, looking from the judges as he blasted people out of the way to narrow down his targets. Everyone's eyes widened when they realised what had happened. They all looked at each other in shock.

"We were too late," Marinette said, guilt washing over her for not acting sooner.

"Yeah…" Adrien said, feeling the same guilt.

"What are we going to do?" Lila asked in worry.

She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she had grown to care for Andrew. The fact that the blonde beast and judges were responsible for this! But wait…she had insulted him too…while she didn't see it as insults…it may have hurt his feelings. The same way how Chloe thought his feelings wouldn't be hurt by helping.

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do," Izzy said as she put her phone and the envelope away and headed to a nearby tree. She jumped up and grabbed a branch; dangling off it for a few minutes before snapping it off. It was a fairly thick branch too.

"What?" all three asked in concern and slight alarm.

"I'm gonna take this branch, and I'm gonna keep my promise," Izzy said before running off back to the school.

"Huh. I think we should stay here and let her do it," Lila said with a shrug.

"What promise?" Adrien asked in confusion. It then dawned on Marintte but Adrien wasn't clear. Lila rolled her eyes.

"She's gonna kill Chloe," Lila said simply. That was enough for the pair to drag Lila back to the school as they all sprinted back at top speed.

* * *

Sorsurreal continued to search the school, Minerva having hidden well by this point. She was currently hiding in the art classroom unknownst to him. He was getting frustrated. Most others had cleared out but there was one of course who decided to stay and yell and complain.

"This is ridiculous! First your friend assaults me and now you're spreading your ugly work all over the school!" Chloe said as she stomped her foot. Sorsurreal glared at her.

"You know Chloe, you'd make an atrocious piece. But maybe you'd look better in _pieces_!" Sorsurreal sneered, aiming his blast at her…only for her to be knocked out of the way by someone. The light cleared away to reveal Adrien having pushed her out of the way.

"Andrew that's enough!" Adrien called.

"There is no Andrew, only Sorsurreal!" he yelled back.

"Come on man, don't be like this! Come down and we can talk about this!" Izzy yelled out as she entered the scene with Lila and Marinette. The appearance was more startling in person. Sorsurreal eyed Izzy and Lila with a blank expression.

"I have no quarrel with you two. But you Agreste. You're just as bad as your father. Always thinking you're above everyone else. You'd make a marvellous piece!" he yelled as he fired again. Adrien pulled Chloe away and they both headed off into a hallway.

"I'll go after them!" Marinette said quickly as she sprinted off after them, changing direction when she checked that they weren't looking. She headed into the bathroom and slammed the door.

"This is bad Tikki!" Marinette said worriedly as the little creature flew out.

"Chloe has gone way too far!" Tikki agreed.

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette said with a yell.

* * *

"This isn't the way to go about getting good feedback Andrew!" Izzy called out. Sorsurreal's eyes narrowed as his patience was starting to thin.

"Yeah so stop being so whiny and come down here!" Lila said. The grip on the villain's staff tightened.

"You know what? I've changed my mind. I'm sure you'd look lovely hanging on my wall!" Sorsurreal said as he fired two blasts at the girls. They were seconds away from impact until a yo-yo pulled the pair out of the way.

"Attacking your own friends? There's nothing artful about that!" a voice said. Sorsurreal whirled around to see Ladybug now standing in front of the two girls protectively. Izzy looked relieved while Lila looked slightly disgusted.

"Ladybug! So nice of you to join the party! You and Chat Noir will soon be my masterpiece!" Sorsurreal sneered as he fired at the heroine. Ladybug was about to deflect it until Izzy threw the branch, she was holding so it quickly turned into an abstract tree on a canvas.

"Don't touch the paint! You'll be a canvas in seconds!" Izzy warned.

"Thanks! Now you two go and take cover," Ladybug said. Izzy nodded and grabbed Lila's arm as they headed into a nearby classroom and locked the door.

"Your efforts are useless," Sorsurreal said as he fired multiple coloured blasts at the spotted hero.

Ladybug put her yo-yo away and did multiple flips as she barely managed to dodge all of the blasts. She managed to grab nearby objects and attempted to knock down the villain, but he was far too quick. Not only did he fire the blasts, but he was also quick in movements as he dodged the objects with grace.

"Nobody insults my lady," a slick voice said as a trash can hit the lower part of Sorsurreal's body. He scowled as he looked up to see Chat Noir on the roof twirling his staff.

"Ah so the cat has arrived. Let me paint you a picture; you'll be giving me your miraculous!" Sorsurreal declared as he charged at the cat.

"Great timing!" Ladybug said. Chat Noir smiled meekly. He had been a tad late since he may or may not have locked Chloe in the classroom. She was not happy but for the first time in a while, he didn't care about her.

Chat Noir then jumped down from the roof and both collided and started to have a duel. The sounds of their staffs echoed throughout the building. While he was distracted, Ladybug picked up a nearby canvas and gazed at it. Seems this would be a difficult one. Defeating a villain, they couldn't touch. Something that she had neglected to tell Chat Noir.

"Chat Noir don't let him…!" she started but it was too late.

"Take this!" he yelled as he brought down the staff, only for Sorsurreal to dodge and for him to blast his staff with a bright green paint. His staff immediately disappeared and reformed into an acrylic canvas. Sorsurreal almost had him with another green paint shot but Ladybug's yo-yo was around his waist in seconds and she yanked him back roughly onto the floor.

"Careful Kitty, we can't let his paint touch us! Or our weapons," Ladybug warned him. Chat Noir sat up roughly and rubbed his head.

"Good to know M'Lady," Chat Noir said meekly. The familiar butterfly mask appeared on Sosurreal's grinning face.

_"Excellent work! Tire them out and soon you'll have their miraculous on your canvas!"_

Lila and Izzy were watching the fight from the classroom window. They could see it was not going well.

"He's a pretty powerful akuma," Izzy said.

"Almost like you a few days ago," Lila commented, making Izzy give her a look.

"Uh…thanks?" she said. A scuffle behind them then made them whirl round.

"What was that?" Lila asked suddenly.

Another scuffle was heard; coming from the nearby cupboard. The girls looked at each other and grabbed the nearest items; a ruler and a pencil. They edged towards the cupboard. It was tense. They nodded at each other as Lila quickly opened the door and for someone to tumble out. The girls instantly whacked and poked the person with their objects, only for the person to scream out in annoyance.

"Stop. I am not an akuma!" Minerva yelled. The girls paused before hitting her once more. "Didn't you hear me? I am not an akuma."

"Oh, we heard you," Lila said in annoyance.

"Where are the other judges," Izzy asked. Minerva got up and dusted herself off.

"They managed to escape. I had to stay in here to be safe," Minerva said.

"Well, you need to apologise," Lila said, causing the pair to look at her.

"Excuse me?" Minerva said as she placed a hand on her chest.

"Your comments are partially why a good guy out there is akumatised. You need to apologise," Lila demanded.

"Never thought I'd say this, but I agree," Izzy said as she heaved slightly, making Lila look at her in annoyance.

"Does it really make you that sick to agree with me?" Lila asked.

"Yes," Izzy snapped.

"All I did was provide criticism! Nothing more," Minerva insisted.

"Nothing more? I saw him come over to you after he had his feedback. You said something to him. Didn't you?" Izzy snapped. Minerva shifted uncomfortably, answering the girl's suspicions.

"I knew it. Well if you won't apologise, we'll make you," Lila said as she went to grab her arm.

"As much as I want that, we can't. We need a plan. They're losing badly out there, and another victim won't help," Izzy said.

In the back of her mind, all she wanted to do was transform into Blair and beat the crap out of the akuma. But she was with Lila and it would look too suspicious if she went off and Blair suddenly appeared. They needed to do something and fast.

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

**Starskulls: And there we go; we have part one!**

**W.R. Winters: *walks back covered in marshmallow* You suck.**

**Starskulls: I regret nothing!**

**W.R. Winters: I will say, what does everyone think about the pairings. We didn't really have any responses to that. Who would you pair the characters with?**

**Starskulls: Although you were a sick bastard in the last notes, I am curious too. But anyway, on to the reviews!**

* * *

_DragoonSensei  
This was an intresting chapter. I realy enjoyed it._  
_It has a very intresting mix of chemistry. ( I couldn't resist the pun :3 )_  
_Izzy was a very powerful akuma. I always woundered how an active kwami reacts to the akumatisation of its chosen. The show always skips it over. I hope Jinxx is alright.  
Lets all hope that an angry Andrew is the last kick in the ass that Lila needed to get her shit together.  
_**Starskulls: And a punbelievable pun it is, extra special cupcake for that! Hopefully the answer we provided about the kwami's resolved your concerns!  
W.R. Winters: Well, events in this chapter seem to imply that Lila is at least pointed in the right direction and taking small baby steps. Though let's hope they're not the same kind of baby steps Chloe was making before she threw her redemption arc out the window.**

_Animegamefanatic_  
_Well at leats Lila's apologized...I hope She STAYS behaved. Although I wonder if People are gonna FINALLY do something about Chloe's rotten behavior at School or something. If anything I'm surprised NOBODY alerted the HEAD French government or the super-attendant because this is getting out of control; Izzy's right They don't do squat about the biggest brat in paris but punish them, especially if they mess with them._  
_I hope izzy doesn't start feeling low about being akumatized, especially since she's a holder; I don't think Jinxs or Fu will hold it against her since she's not the first one, especially since she didn't revealed to be a holder and doesn't know who ladybug, chat and Ursa are under the mask. Though I wonder if her mom or some other parents are gonna have a field day with the school for this crap.  
_**Starskulls: I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that people ARE beginning to do something about Chloe, or at least they're starting to. And yes while Izzy did feel some insecurity, she was able to bounce back! As for Izzy's mom, well whether or not she takes things up with the school is a different matter. At least she decided to have some quality family time with Izzy!  
****W.R. Winters: Well, as we know people don't really seem to have common sense when it comes to handling problematic situations, probably due to their fear of the mayor's authority. But whatever, someone else should just be mayor (preferable someone that doesn't bribe their way into office).**

_GirlPower54_  
_This felt incredibly comedic and like a fun read. Poor Izzy with being akumatized. Yes, really Mr. Damocles, come on. Chloé was nothing but a brat to everyone in the school. I personally like science and chemistry so I support the idea of one. Plus she's a holder so I sympathize with that. I've always wondered what happens when someone is a holder but is akumatized when not transformed. Very interesting._  
_Andrew not transforming into Ursa makes sense. If he did his identity would've easily been unveiled if it didn't cover those donkey ears. All the mutations were interesting in their own ways, since most made sense due to Itazura Iodine's comments about them (I personally didn't like Lila's mutation- it felt a bit too much). I'm glad Izzy's brothers realized family before sports. _  
_Izzy and Lila coming to a deal? That's great. Honestly, the ending scene could mean anything could happen in the next chapter. Romance wise I'm not sure what to expect plus I prefer surprises._  
_Either way, excited to see what happens next.  
_**Starskulls: Ooh, a new reader! Special cupcake for the new reviewer! Glad you're finding this entertaining. Well, Itazura Iodine wanted Lila to be her magnum opus, so it makes sense for her to go a bit over the top. And also because I really enjoyed the mental image of Lila being mutated into something beyond disgusting!  
****W.R. Winters: Yeah, it you can't tell my co-author isn't exactly fond of Lila. Thanks for taking the time to check our story out and hopefully you've decided to stick around!**

_Pinksakura271  
__Ummm no disrespect Starskulls but - I don't talk to sick evil freaks - you enjoy talking with ME, Wolfie can't be worse. (Giggles) _  
_ON TO MY REVIEW: Hawkmoth waiting for Izzy's emotions to boil over is well put. The akuma lingering in the dark just for the right time. - It baffled her how Ursa could be equal parts idiot and over-analysing detective, but this was nothing like when she'd play Detectives with Andrew - Huh that's because Ursa unlike Andrew wants to play "break Blair's sanity" so he pushes her buttons. (Giggles)_  
_Ursa isn't thinking like a crazied criminal nor a detective. To them everyone is guilty until proven innocent. NOT the other way around, no offense Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix. Damn brothers, Izzy I feel for you. Ryland IF it was her time of the month... BACK THE FUCK OFF! Seriously was Alex the only one genuinely concerned even a little?_  
_Lila seeing the akuma going for Izzy... it's an opportunity alright. Izzy's demeanor seeing that one-armed hug acted hastily as Dupain-Cheng seeing Adrien with ANY girl. I so knew it. Andrew joking that he was Lila's boyfriend would come back to haunt him. As for Izzy, if she truly did want to understand she shouldn't have yelled and freaked numping to conclusions. Should have just talked to Andrew even with stupid rumors going around._  
_\- thinking about 'could've, would've, should've' wasn't going to change the past. - No very true but it will help build for a better future, if such a situation occurred again. Ohhh... yea Jinxx turn Andrew's hair pink that would be adorable._  
_Now Izzy going rightfully off on Principal Damocles was hilarious. Yet of course it lead to "meeting with parents" still it was good. ;) What in the name of pink WAS JINXX DOING?! The akuma clenched at her girl, she didn't try to stop it!_  
_Itazura Iodine's whole appearance is miraculous! - She stood tall and proudly, a chemistry flask filled with a smoking pink liquid was held in one hand, while the other was holding a gas mask against her face. The akuma's hair was rainbow coloured similar to a the-dye shirt and was done up in two Harley Quinn styled ponytails. Strapped to her forehead was a pair of pink safety goggles. Any visible skin was a pale grey colour, which made the bright colours of her outfit stand out even more. She was wearing a_ _white lab coat covered in chemical stains from past experiments. Underneath the lab coat she was wearing a dark pink top and crossing over her chest in an X were two black leather bullet straps, only instead of holding bullets it was holding test tubes and vials filled with various chemicals and elements of all colours and states of matter. Around her waist was a belt with even more elements and chemical materials, as well as a small Bunsen burner hanging from it. She had on elbow length black gloves with matching knee length boots. She also has on black, white and pink leggings and black boots. - BEYOND LOVE THE HARLEY QUINN HAIR!_  
_Sorry Plagg but time you and your Kitten to do your thing. - Jake went for the crazy theory that Chat Noir had been akumatized. - How about I grab your head a run on the treadmill at maximum?! Or better I run on it with your head behind me repeatedly getting kicked by my boot covered feet! Alex threatening Ryland about throwing him out the window is good._  
_Itazura Iodine made Chloé a mix between herself, a cow and a pig she deserved it. KITTY NO! Part ladybug NO! Itazura Iodine the antennas and wings seriously, CHANGE HIM BACK! Tho he is winging with it, insect-ionly well. Now Andrew turned into a donkey, well hey at least his insult to Kitty was cut short. Ladybug with cat ears and tail cute him blushed, but no she doesn't look right with feline features._  
_A mix of disgusting bugs is now Lila's appearance... cockroach the most evil. Kitty holding back Itazura Iodine than cataclysming her goggles purrfect! Andrew... is rightfully livid at Lila. Answer yes she saw the akuma get closer to Jones before hand. Andrew angry like that, I'm a mix between scared and hotly fascinated. (Smug Smirk) Glad her brothers are finally waking up to try be good brothers. Lila and Izzy's deal well it's start. Yes Izzy, Lila likes Andrew much more than a friend. It's adorable.  
_**Starskulls: Not gonna lie, the criticism on Izzy's reaction/behavior was pretty offensive to me. Sure she acted irationally, but Izzy's thought process is more emotional. It's actually another way Izzy and Andrew compliment one another. izzy is academic but thinks more emotionally, while Andrew is more creative, but thinks more logically. but anyway, I'm glad you still like Itazura Iodine's design and enjoyed the battle 9despite your objections with Chat's mutation). Here's your specially made cupcake.  
****W.R. Winters: Man, this review was lengthy, even more so than usual. There's no possible way of reacting to everything here! Though I suppose that the last chapter was super lengthy too so an equally lengthy review seems fitting. And your continued support and you taking the time to write these super lengthy reviews is always appreciated.**

* * *

**W.R. Winters: And that should do it!**

**Starskulls: Whoop! Part 2 should be up in about a week so that's like an extra bonus for you guys! Yeee I am excited! I look forward to hearing your opinions about this! And ahem, certain parts! Cupcakes to all that review!**

**W.R. Winters: Thanks guys! This is W. and Starskulls signing off!**


	7. Chapter 6 Part 2

**W.R. Winters: Welcome back everyone, to the next chapter of _Masks In the Shadows_, and the second part of Sorsurreal.**

**Starskulls: Yep, and before we get to the chapter, I just wanna say that I'm very pleased at the responses we got with the last chapter.**

**W.R. Winters: Yeah, and while we will give detailed responses as we usually do. I wanted to say now that yes, the Mayor and Chloe will be facing consequences for their actions. But you'll have to wait until next chapter to learn what those consequences are.**

**Starskulls: *evil laugh* It's going to be good!**

**W.R. Winters: But enough of us, you probably wanna see how the battle plays out, so let's just get on with it.**

**-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

"Any ideas M'Lady? I'm in need of a catnap soon!" Chat Noir said as he panted.

Ladybug dodged yet another blast. She was getting pretty worn out too. She had no idea here the akuma was and even if she did, she didn't know how she was going to get it. How could they attack a villain they couldn't touch? She was so distracted in over thinking, she didn't notice Sorsurreal's quick aim.

"You're mine Ladybug!" Sorsurreal yelled.

"Watch out!" Chat yelled.

Ladybug let out a yelp as she used her yo-yo to pull herself out of the way; but not quickly enough for the blast to miss her. She felt a jolt of pain shoot up her arm. She managed to land out of the way and hit behind a pillar. She looked down and to her horror, saw that her arm was missing. She looked back out onto the courtyard and saw a new portrait of a water-colour arm.

"Great," she muttered. Now her whole balance was off.

"Wow M'Lady. Now he really has an arm up on us," Chat said as he landed beside her.

"Not now Chat," Ladybug said with an eye roll but a small smile came to her lips. A little scuffle made them both look up. Sorsurreal was currently roaming the halls looking for them and the other judges or anyone to make a piece so that ruled him out.

"Ladybug!" Izzy whispered as her head was poking out of the classroom. Both heroes quickly ran into the classroom, pulled the blinds and then exhaled deeply.

"He's tough for an artist," Chat commented as he wiped his forehead. His eyes then caught onto Lila and Minerva. Lila rolled her eyes and elbowed the judge.

"This is the main judge. Turns out she was harsher than she should have been," Lila said.

"I was only honest!" Minerva protested.

"There's being honest, then there's being a complete bi—" Izzy started but then Ladybug cut her off.

"What she is trying to say that the honest truth is good but it's the way you say it. You don't know who you could hurt," Ladybug said.

Lila's eyes darted to the side when those words left her mouth. This was getting all a bit irritating now. It's like even Hawkmoth was testing her! Being stuck here with Ladybug was bad enough.

"I see. Well that is all well and good Ladybug, but what can we do?" Minerva said.

"We need to find out where the akuma is. Any ideas?" Chat asked.

"His hat?" Lila suggested.

"No, it wouldn't be that. Hawkmoth usually targets key objects with the akuma's powers," Ladybug suggested.

"It has to be the paintbrush. But there's no way we can grab it. It's stuck to him like glue. So what can we do?" Izzy asked.

"There's only one thing we can do. Lucky Charm!" Ladybug called, the yo-yo swirling up into the air. The magic sparkled and twinkled as it formed into a large bottle of vinegar which dropped into Ladybug's hand.

"Vinegar? Unless we have some chips, I don't see how this is going to help," Chat commented, his stomach silently rumbling at the idea of food. Ladybug looked around but nothing jumped out to her, nor how to use it.

"Wait a minute," Izzy said as she swiped it from the hand of the bug. She pulled the top of it off and gave a sly grin. She then surprised everyone by pouring a bit of it onto Minerva, who shrieked in response.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?!" she shrieked. Izzy said nothing but pushed her over to the door.

"Run to the exit," Izzy said as she opened the door and pushed her out.

"What are you doing?" Ladybug said in shock as she went to stop her. Lila stopped her by grabbing her shoulder. Ladybug internally shuddered as did Lila but she complied.

"Wait," Lila insisted. All four looked out of the window to watch Minerva run to the exit. She was halfway there until she tripped and fell down. Lila stifled a laugh. Izzy did not and Chat Noir didn't either. Ladybug looked at them with a frown and was about to comment until Sorsurreal flew in.

"Ah Minerva! You're just in time for your final paint touch up!" Sorsurreal sneered.

"I don't know what you want me to say! I just critiqued your work!" Minerva insisted.

"You called my inspiration unrealistic! Now I'll turn you into something beautifully abstract!" Sorsurreal shouted as he fired a paint blast at Minerva…only for it to explode on impact and the paint slipped down her body. The mask appeared on Sorsurreal's face again.

_"What is going on Sorsurreal? Your powers should be on top form!"_

"What did you do!" Sorsurreal demanded as he looked at his wand in annoyance.

"You're not as slick as you think Sorsurreal!" a voice said. Sorsurreal turned to see Ladybug standing there with Izzy and Lila on either side; all covered in vinegar. Although the look of distaste was evident. Minerva took this time to bolt for the exit.

"I'll ask again, what did you do?" he snapped.

"Vinegar! Makes the paint slide right off!" Ladybug said.

"Yeah, although some paint remover would have been preferable," Izzy said as she wafted her hand at the stench.

"You will hand me your miraculous even if I have to put you in a canvas myself!" Sorsurreal declared, diving down to attack the girls.

They all split up in their different directions, dodging the multiple blasts he was letting out, although it was much easier when the blasts grazed off of them as opposed to being a canvas. Meanwhile, Chat was climbing up to the roof to ready his position. Finally, Sorsurreal was in the middle of the courtyard with the girls forming a triangle around him.

"It's over!" Ladybug stated.

"It's over when I say it is!" Sorsurreal said as he raised his arm, the paintbrush up in clear shot.

Ladybug grinned as she launched her yo-yo, wrapping it around Sorsurreal, leaving his one arm free and stuck up in the air. Sorsurreal yelled out in annoyance as he struggled to free himself but now was the perfect opportunity.

"Chat Noir now!" Ladybug yelled.

"Cataclysm!" the black cat yelled as he launched himself at the villain with his arm outstretched. His claws closed around the brush, which then instantly turned black. Sorsurreal and Chat dropped to the ground as Ladybug retracted her yo-yo as the paintbrush crumbled to dust; the butterfly fluttering out.

"No more evil doing for you little akuma. Time to de-evilise!"

She swumng the yo-yo, catching the akuma, the yo-yo closing around it before returning to Ladybug's hand, "Gotcha!" She opened the yo-yo, allowing the white butterfly to flutter out, "Bye bye little butterfly," Ladybug said waving to it as it fluttered away. She picked up the vinegar bottle and threw it into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

The bottle exploded into the air, revealing the little magic ladybugs as they flew around the school, restoring all the canvas's t their original forms. People rejoiced and hugged as the bugs swirled around the girls, getting rid of the vinegar. Chat Noir came beside Ladybug and held out a fist.

"Pound it!" they both chorused. Izzy then held out her fist to Lila. The girls looked in separate directions but bumped fists with a secret smile hidden on their faces.

* * *

"Not even Sorsurreal could bring you down!" Hawkmoth growled from his lair. His fists clenched as his jaw tightened.

"Mark my words Ladybug, soon you and Chat Noir will be handing over your miraculous and it'll be the greatest piece the world will ever see!" he declared as the windows whirred shut once more.

* * *

The purple sludge then disappeared from Sorsurreal, revealing Andrew on his knees where he looked up and rubbed his head. He saw everyone hugging around him and then his eyes fell on his friends and the heroes. He realised what happened and his frown returned.

"How many people did I hurt?" he asked. Ladybug came over to him and held out her hand.

"No one. Everyone is fine now," she responded as he got to his feet.

"Shame really. I would have liked Chloe to stay as a canvas," Lila said with a shrug.

"You put up a good fight. But right now, you need to go home and rest," Chat said with a nod.

Andrew nodded and was about to move but was shocked when Lila hugged him quickly and then pushed him away. He blinked. A red dust was on her cheeks as she folded her arms and looked away.

"Don't scare me like that again. You idiot," Lila said as she then scurried off.

The heroes looked at each other and blinked. Andrew found a smile coming to his face, but it vanished when he saw the return of a mayor and brat.

"Don't worry about them, I have a feeling the crowd will have something to say," Ladybug said as she launched her yo-yo and launched herself out of the yard, with Chat Noir going in the other direction with his baton.

"Yo, Andy," a voice said. Andrew turned around to see Izzy standing there with his folder in her grasp she stepped up to him and handed it over.

"Thanks. Is it okay?" Andrew asked as he looked down at it.

"Yeah, I put it back in, the damage is all gone thanks to Ladybug and Chat Noir," Izzy said. She then reached into her pocket and pulled out the envelope which had his feedback written on it. Andrew cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I uh…I'm sorry for kicking off. I shouldn't have let the feedback get to me like that," he said. Izzy scoffed.

"Hey, I read the feedback. It was constructive yes but the way they put it…well there's only one way I can sum it up," Izzy said, then raising the envelope up and ripping it in two. Andrew let out a laugh as he then hugged his friend.

"Thanks Izzy," he said.

"No worries. I actually took a picture if you actually did want the feedback, I was making a point," Izzy rambled as they split. Andrew nodded in thanks as he then turned on his heel and headed for the exit. There was one more person who needed to see his work.

* * *

"Andrew, oh my goodness, are you okay?!" Hanna asked as she threw her arms around her son as soon as he walked through the door.

Andrew managed to put down the case before she crushed it with her death grip. It was only a few seconds before Alyssa and Reed ran into the room and enveloped him in a hug. This went on for about five minutes before they separated. Andrew made a mental note to make Grizz an extra pocket. He was fine despite the akumatisation but he still felt bad.

"Are you okay? What that blonde little devil did was inexcusable!" Reed said angrily.

"I'm fine, Ladybug fixed it with her powers. "I'm pretty sure that Chloe is going to face the heat after that as well as the mayor. It was kinda of a good ending."

"The court rules in favour of the people," Alyssa said with a grin. Andrew was too good of a mood now to even comment. His eyes then trailed to the case.

"So, um…I have the piece here. It was for you intentionally because well, you are my inspiration and I want to be like you. Kind, confident and to always be the best that I can be," Andrew said as he pulled out the canvas.

"Oh Andrew…" Hanna said tearfully as she held the canvas in her hands. She was trembling. Reed was getting a little tearfully as was Alyssa.

"Do you like it?" Andrew asked; slightly more anxious about his work confidence now.

"I love it, thank you, I'm ganing it in my office opposite my desk!" Hanna said as she gave him a tight hug.

"I don't know critics to tell me that my work is good. Seeing you smile at it, is more than enough for me," Andrew said as his family entered a group hug once again.

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

**W.R. Winters: ...**

**Starskulls: What? Did you not like it?**

**W.R. Winters: No, I did, immensely. I just expected this chapter to be longer, that's all.**

**Starskulls: Well, really the only reason we had to split it was so we could stick to our schedule, so...**

**W.R. Winters: Alright, we'll hopefully in the future both of us will have plenty of time to write our chapters so that something like this doesn't happen again.**

**Starskulls: Alright, but for now, on with the reviews!**

* * *

_Rose Tiger:_  
_That slap wasn't enough. Izzy should have punched her._  
**Starskulls: The temptation to write that was at the tip of my fingers! But I don't think Wolf would want to be too violent with this. Spoil sport.  
****W.R. Winters: Believe me, I am this close to considering it.**

_Guest:_  
_I'm liking Lila's redemption arc much better than Chloe's in canon, even though that one didn't deserve to be trashed without a thought like it was (stupid Miracle Queen!) Finally, Principal Damocles is getting a clue and a spine! As for the Akumatized Andrew, it's stupid and awful that the judges wouldn't recognize the value of more abstract art. Sometimes less realism can show more, like how he sees who his mother is as well as her physical appearance. Izzy should transform though, even if just to keep the civilians back and MischLeaf Chloe the toad (no offense to toads). Keep it up, this fanfic is one of my favorites!_  
**Starskulls: Yeesh I am still shuddering over the redemption. It doesn't feel right. I know, Chloe's redemption was thrown out of the window like an old cheesecake! But I kinda want to see how everyone reacts to her in season 4. I bet they won't be happy. I hope the creators address it! As an artist myself, I got the message Andrew was making with the painting. I wish she could have but we don't want everyone to figured it out!**  
**W.R. Winters: As the person who takes prime responsibility for the redemption, I thank you. Let's be honest, I don't think Chloe is ever going to truly change unless it's on FanFiction. As my co-author says, it's a little too early for reveals.**

_DragoonSensei_  
_What Chloé just did is unforgivable! You don't destroy somebodys hard work just because you don't like it! Even though I personaly suck at every form of grafik art. I LOVE IT! I have several friend who are brilliant artists and I only have a deviantart and a newground account just for following creative and talented peoples. I love redemtion stories but after something like this there is NO redemtion! PS: Thank you for answering my question about the kwamis._  
**Starskulls: I know she is the definition of evil! Sadly a lot of people are like that. At least from my experience anyway. Same here, it's always amazing following such talented artists. You're welcome!**  
**W.R. Winters: It is harsh even for Chloe but based off of Miracle Queen, its not exactly unlike her now. I'm glad we cleared that up! You're welcome!**

_Bunnywabbit29:_  
_cow chloe is 1000x more amazing than the actual chloe! i was actually cheering izzy on when she smacked chloe, please let her do that again!_  
**Starskulls: I know it's a major improvement! Mwahaha!**  
**W.R. Winters: Yeah I am pretty sure the fans just cheered at that. I bet seeing it animated would be even better!**

_Animegamefanatic:_  
_OH. OH THAT IS IT! Chloe you've gone TOO Far! Mayor B...You are pathetic excuse for a mayor and a disgrace to actual good parents and competent politicians everywhere. How can you say that was an accident after you snob of a daughter defiled it in public; I think even Adrian's had enough of Chloe's crap; If anything it should be a SIGN that he should break off his friendship with chloe. Either way, I Also smell both a lawsuit, if not an impeachment in the bourgeois household, and a steaming pile of karma heading Chloe's way. And I got a feeling Ladybug's gonna fully renounce her from the team for this; after all, HEROES are SUPPOSED to help people and think of more than themselves; I mean yeah you gotta take care of your mental and physical health, but still - If your a hero you're not supposed to CREATE problems, your supposed to SOLVE them; and Chloe's done nothing but gotten worse and created all of these problems either for her own benefit or because she thinks she's above everyone - but I don't think Ladybug or anyone's gonna let her get away with it this time; And I doubt even Adrian will either after this; and there will be a point where her Daddy can't bail her out; especially if he can't get himself out of THIS pickle. I Feel Andrew's pain; rejection sucks; my stuff's been rejected countless times; though they weren't mean about it, but it still stung. I don't think Minerva was trying to be mean or come off rude, even if that's how it sounded; but Maybe she was raised off harsh critics, especially to make her better, maybe she wanted him to REALLY connect with the reality of the inspiration, show the audience how it connected not just to him, but to the viewers; heck for all we know someone or another judge who saw Andrews work may have wanted to feature it somewhere despite it not being a winner. With Lila; she seems to really want to do better; Andrew must have done something to her if she stopped herself from lying; if anything I can see her, at this point in the story, trying to do right; especially if you guys got some redemption going for her; I can also see her struggling to get away from hawkmoth, considering the crap she's pulled in the past, wanting to do right, and willing to admit her wrong doings; again if she's hit that point for redemption._  
**Starskulls: I KNOW RIGHT! THEY SUCK AS HUMAN BEINGS! ADRIEN HAS FINALLY WOKEN UP! HE SHOULD NOT BE FRIENDS WITH SUCH A-**  
**W.R. Winters: Okay okay, calm down! Sorry, she has just burst her windpipe so she's out for five minutes. Don't worry, she will be facing her just dessert, no cupcakes for her at least. It's a shame that we wrote this during the process of Miracle Queen, it kinda of threw us for a loop. Yeah, me and Star always think about the notes we get for our work, including her artwork. There will always be people out there who don't like your work. That's fact sadly. Being blunt isn't good in certain situations. It only works really when you're blunt with friends. They understand you. Saying it someone else can get you in trouble. Andrew is a bit of a wizard isn't he. I swear that was not a pun Star, stop glaring at me! You'll have to wait and see for more of that plot.**

_Random Reader:_  
_One: Izzy, you ARE AWESOME; and NOW probably the most popular girl in school next to Marinette. Two: PLEASE Let chloe FINALLY get her just deserts. She's CROSSED the line! and three. keep up the amazing work._  
**Starskulls: Ahem, my voice is now back. One: Agreed. Two: In session: Three: WE SHALL!**  
**W.R. Winters: One: Amen. Two: Amen. Three: AMEN!**

_Pinksakura271:_  
_Yea sorry Starskulls I meant no true offense. Really Wolfie lengthy than usual? Huh I didn't notice. Glad you both enjoyed my madness. ;) ON TO MY REVIEW: Nice Izzy got more attention from Jayne. Her and her brothers shocked Jayne cried? Understandable their mother is scary tough woman. Yet hello her only daughter akumatizion of course she would freak out. Cow Chloé I'm suprised NOT ranting about moo-ving away from Paris. She's not milking this attention as usual. (Giggles) Andrew's private violin performance, glad Izzy's happy again. Art contest huh and winning masterpiece featured in the new art exhibition at the Louvre that all sounds beautiful. The theme 'What Is Your Inspiration' very key and deep. Little sister Alyssa and his bestie Izzy get along that's adorable. Hey da Vinci your sister needs to make sure her brother eats. (Smug Smirk) - Those two? Cupcakes? Explosions? That would be worse than Hawkmoth! - Awww Book Boy it would be fun. Jones isn't brain washing your sis Andrew. Very sweet pun there. - had vented by playing the violin till one in the morning. Then his sister came in and threw a law book at his head. - OH MY DAMN CHERRY BLOSSOMS, Alyssa your law book was alright right?! Nice atom pun, but hey if your having a pun war DON'T FURGET KITTY, WHERE'S THE PUN MASTER WHEN YOU NEED HIM ADRIEN! Reed/Hanna seem like darlings. Hanna smart move, double check everything is always right. Lila and Izzy together - Not a usual duo I'd expect to see - well Andrew if you saw Marinette (or really Chloé) and my Cecilia together THAT'S an unusual duo indeed. Chloé be a good girl, a bite that nasty tongue of yours off thank you. Lessen her existence Izzy? Then whom would you hiss at, bad racoon bad, leave the fox alone. Both girls "Meh" right you are Kitty - That's…something I guess," Adrien said awkwardly - - Jeez what else was he hiding - A magical bear Lila. Alya as much as Chloé deserves it... Adrien Nino don't release her! - "Is he deaf as well as stupid?" - yes Bourgeois is Lila. Lila calling Chloé a bitch was good. Lila and Izzy agreeing not scary it's right that judge needs to apologize. Nice smack and purromise on her Izzy. Sorssureal's akumatized form very colorful and cute to picture. - Sorsurreal eyed Izzy and Lila with a blank expression. "I have no quarrel with you two. But you Agreste. You're just as bad as your father. Always thinking you're above everyone else. You'd make a marvellous piece. - Adrien is Cattastic masterpiece yes... HOW DARE YOU, YOU TALKING PAINTBRUSH ADRIEN IS NOT A NARCISSISTIC WARM-AS-ICEBERG-CUDDLY-AS-A-CACTUS ASSHOLE!_  
**Starskulls: No worries, I know you didn't mean it. Always enjoy a bit of madness! Yeah I know a few people who never cry unless it's super emotional stuff. I know, it put her in a really bad mooo-d. Yeah you know how serious Andrew can get so made sense to give a seriousish theme. Hey exploding cupcakes will be a thing! It is uh… a secret project I am working on. Don't tell! Sorry but there is a pun competition coming and we will see who wins…mwahaha! I figured Lila needed a bit of a punch line too with the bitch thing. ADRIEN NEEDS HIS EYES OPENED IN THE SHOW TO SEE WHAT A BITCH SHE IS! But seriously, after the finale I hope he sees what she is really like.**  
**W.R. Winters: Yeah I should have let you chat that out, my bad. I already have enough madess with this cupcake nut here I am on overload here! I know, she's got real beef with everyone now. *crickets*…you guys suck. She's brainwashing him I tell you! Ew I don't want Chloe's tongue on the floor, that'll make such a mess! RELEASE RELEASE! I'm not one for cussing but it was well timed. Okay ladies please no shouting about Adrien, can't we just see what happens? *dodges fireball* Nevermind….**

* * *

**W.R. Winters: And that should do it, now before we sign off there's something we need to tell you guys.**

**Starskulls: Yeah, next week we'll be taking a break for the holidays, and also so we can further and better plan out the plot of this story. Then we'll be going back to the regular two weeks between chapters schedule.**

**W.R. Winters: So the next chapter won't be out for 3 weeks, hopefully you all understand.**

**Starskulls: So since you won't be seeing us until after the holidays, Merry Christmas and happy holidays!**

**W.R. Winters: And a happy New Year as well! This is W.R. Winters and Starskulls, signing off.**


	8. Chapter 7

**W.R. Winters: Hey everyone, welcome back to 'Masks in the Shadows'! Yes, this story has been gone for a long time...six months to be precise, but its finally back and I'm here to finally give you guy another update! Also, you may notice that it's just me here, well that's because my co-author isn't here yet, in fact she doesn't even know that this update is happening. However, when she arrives, I want everyone to yell 'Surprise!' Got it?...okay great, here she comes.**

**Starskulls: *enters* Wolf I swear if this is another one of your pranks...**

**Everyone: SURPRISE!**

***The scene is lit up with bright fireworks as balloons and a banner saying 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' falls from the ceiling***

**W.R. Winters: *Bringing out a cake* Happy birthday, Star!**

**Starskulls: So this is what you were working on. *smiles* Thanks you guys, this is awesome!**

**W.R. Winters: Yeah, I figured bringing this story out of its unofficial hiatus would be a good birthday present. So, what do you say we get this show on the road?**

**Starskulls: Let's do it so I can see what you've come up with! Hopefully you guys, and myself, enjoy the next chapter of 'Masks in the Shadows'!**

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

_**Recap of the last chapter: Andrew entered a painting on his mom into an art contest in the hopes of having it hang in an art museum if he won first prize. However, he didn't win, he didn't even place. But he was able to take his loss in stride and hopefully do better in the next contest. Unfortunately when he tried to get feedback from one of the judges, she insulted his work and said that until he makes his art more realistic it wouldn't be worth anything. Then the final straw was when Chloe destroyed Andrew's painting in front of everyone. People definitely didn't approve of Chloe's actions, and the Mayor's pathetic attempts at defending her actions didn't help either. Regardless, the harsh words combined with his art being destroyed were what akumatized Andrew into the artistic sorcerer, Sorsurreal. An akuma that had the most realistic art imaginable as he could transform people into literally living canvases. But, while he did give them a bit of trouble, Ladybug and Chat Noir were able to defeat Sorsurreal and purify his akuma. With Ladybug's magic fixing his art, Andrew gave the painting to his mom content with knowing that if his mom liked his art then that was enough.**_

* * *

CHAPTER 7: Things Have Changed

* * *

If you were to tell someone that it had been two weeks since Sorsurreal's attack, there's a good chance that they wouldn't believe you, because so much had happened since then that it was difficult to believe that it only had been two weeks.

Word of Chloe and the mayor's behavior at the art gallery spread like wildfire, someone had recorded the whole thing on their phone and submitted it to Alya so she could upload it to the Ladyblog. It went viral within hours and the citizens of Paris had a pretty big reaction to it.

The people had been suffering at the hands of the Bourgeois family for too long, and what lead to the akumatization of Sorsurreal was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Citizens banded together and demanded there be a recall vote to remove Andre Bourgeois from office, and after a lot of protesting they were given a vote. It was almost a unanimous decision, so Andre Bourgeois was removed from office and no longer the mayor of Paris. The leader of the Paris City Council would be acting mayor for a week or two until they decided to accept or decline the position, if they declined then a vote will be held to elect a new mayor.

However, that was the only power to fall. With her father no longer the mayor of Paris, Chloe's control and power in school crumbled like a house of cards. And the years of bully finally caught up with her and she was expelled from Collège Françoise Dupont, but her punishment didn't end there. As a proper apology to all the akuma victims she had assisted in akumatizing, while she couldn't be imprisioned, she was sentenced to do community service for the city of Paris until the beginning of the next school year.

* * *

So yeah, it was certainly hard to believe that all of that happened within the span of two weeks. Which brought us to today where the students of Françoise Dupont were celebrating to the downfall of the Bourgeois family with a massive party at the school. Everyone was partying it up and having the time of their lives.

"Sabrina, you really need to calm down,"

Well, almost everyone.

Izzy was currently in the middle of trying to calm down Sabrina, who was still recovering for the fact that Chloe had been expelled, "WhatamIgoingtodowithoutChloe?Isshegoingtobeokay?MaybeIshouldgohelpheroutshemightgethurtdoingcommunityserviceandwhataboutherschoolingshouldIprivatetutorhersothatshedoesn'tendupfallingbehindandendupbeingheldback-"

Sabrina's rambling was cut off by Izzy grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a little, "Sabrina get ahold of yourself!" she shouted, shutting the redhead up, "Now, take a deep breath. Breath in," Sabrina took in a deep breath, "Okay, now you going to be..." Izzy stopped when she saw that Sabrina's face was turning purple, "And breathe out!"

She let out a breath, now trying to catch her breath, "Thank you," she said meekly between breaths.

"As I was saying, you're going to be fine, Sabrina. You don't need to worry about Chloe, I know you think she's your friend, but she's had this coming for a long time," Izzy reassured her, "And now you're free of her, you can be your own person now!"

The redhead blinked at Izzy in confusion, "How do I do that?" she asked.

"Look, I'll help you out, you and me are easily in the top three smartest girls in school, maybe even the smartest period. Brainiacs like us need to stick together. Until you get everything all figured out you can hang out with me and Andrew," She told her, Izzy had always wanted to become good friends with Sabrina, the main issue was that she was always hanging out with Chloe.

Sabrina's eyes lit up a bit, "Really?" she asked.

"Really, now of course there are some things that you'll need to know-" Izzy was cut off by Sabrina hugging her tightly.

"ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouIzzy!" Sabrina said, "I promise you won't regret this," she pulled away, already excited, "What homework would you like me to do first?"

Izzy gave her a look, "None of it, that's exactly what I was going to say before. Andrew and I aren't Chloe, and even though Andrew's grades could certainly use the boost, we're not going to have you do ANY of our homework, okay? You can help me tutor Andrew, but no doing our work for us, okay?"

"...Okay, I think I can do that," Sabrina said nodded, "What else do you need me to do?

'Wow I have a lot of work to do to help this girl,' Izzy thought to herself, "How about you try and have fun at this party? Have a cupcake, dance a little, stuff like that. I'll check on you in a bit after I tell Andrew about you joining the friend group," she said.

"He won't be mad about me hanging out with you guys, right?" Sabrina asked.

Izzy laughed, "He won't, and even if he does, he owes me big time for all the time he's forced me to hang out with Lila," she said, shuddering at saying her name before she started walking away. Ever since Sorsurreal, she and Lila had been spending more and more time together, obviously not by choice. It was just an unwanted side effect of wanting to spend time with Andrew.

But, as much as Izzy hated to admit it, Lila was improving. From what she could tell, Lila hasn't told a single lie in the past two weeks. Which Izzy didn't think was even possible. Whatever magic Andrew was working on Lila was definitely working. She still wouldn't say she's friends with her by any means, but maybe if she kept going...well she could think further on that later. She needed to find Andrew.

* * *

It didn't take her long to find Andrew, he was where he always was at events like this; off to the side and close to the snack table away from the action but close to the food. His attention divided between the snacks and the party that was going on in front of him.

"You know I don't think people would judge you if you only paid attention to the edible stuff," Izzy said as she approached him, "You are technically the reason that why all of this is possible after all,"

Andrew shrugged, "I don't think I should get credit for the Bourgeois Downfall just cause I just happened to be the akumatized victim that made the people decide that enough is enough," he said, "I'm just glad that we don't have to deal with Chloe's shenanigans for a while,"

"Amen to that, the rest of this schoolyear is gonna be heavenly," Izzy said, "Though I will need to find a new target for my chemistry pranks,"

"I'm sure you'll find a replacement soon, or you might even find the motiation to work on chemistry projects that aren't prank related," Andrew suggested.

Izzy considered it, "Hmmm...nah, I'm sure a new bully will reveal themselves now that the school's queen b has been dethroned," she said, "I wonder how this will effect the number of Akumatizations that happen,"

"Yeah I think Hawkmoth did rely on Chloe as a reliable source, so it'll definitely be interesting to see what Hawkmoth with do without her assistance," He said, "Though I guess there are other things in this city that can cause negative emotion "Also speaking of Chloe, I've invited Sabrina to start hanging out with us. She's still going through Chloe withdraws,"

Andrew looked at her, "Good idea, she could definitely use some friends right now...You're not going to try and play matchmaker and set Sabrina and I up though, are you?" he asked.

"No and hey, I've only played matchmaker for you one time," Izzy said, "And if memory serves me right, you and my cousin had a great time,"

"Yeah, because you didn't tell me it was a date," Andrew said, "And you told him I was trying to figure out my sexuality,"

"And it worked, I don't see the problem here," Izzy said,

The blonde blinked at her, "...Never mind, I'm gonna head up to the library for a bit. I'll see you later," he said, giving her a small salute and walking off.

* * *

Andrew wasn't the only one sneaking away from the party though, a certain Italian was trying to find a spot where she could be alone too.

While she had been enjoying the party, she had just gotten a text from Gabriel Agreste. Which usually meant that he was going to call her soon with an important job for her to do. So she definitely didn't want to miss it.

Once she left the party area and was in the hallways it was there that she ran into Andrew, "Oh, hey Lila, why aren't you at the party?" he asked.

Lila's first instinct was to hide the phone behind her back, but she fought against her instincts, "Just wanted to get away from the noise, I'm expecting a phone call pretty soon and didn't wanna be distracted," For some reason Lila found that it was much easier for her to be honest with Andrew, and she'd be lying if she said she knew what that reason was, "What about you? Was there no more reason to stay after they ran out of Oreos?" She asked with a teasing tone.

"Ha ha," he laughed sarcastically, "I'm heading to the library to do some research for my next big project, you're more than welcome to join me if you'd like," Lila's phone began to buzz, "But if your phone is that important to you then I understand,"

Something about this was familiar to Lila, it was pretty similar to a scenario she was in the week prior.

* * *

-*X*x*X*-

* * *

_Flashback..._

_It was the annual Friendship Day Celebrity Scavenger Hunt and Lila was definitely excited to win the chance to spend the day with Adrien. She was especially confident that she could win because earlier Gabriel Agreste had contacted her earlier today._

_"Since I've allowed my son to participate in this event, I can't allow any random citizen finding him. I will assist you to make sure you win. I'd rather that you win this so Adrien's time isn't wasted with undesirable company,"_

_Gabriel Agreste was going to help make sure she wins! He unfortunately couldn't tell her where Adrien was hiding, but he was definitely smart so the riddles would be easy for him to figure out. The only downside to this what she'd need to do this with a 'friend' and need to act like she was solving all these riddles herself and not getting the answers from an outside source._

* * *

_Her first clue lead her to the Arch de Triomphe we're she was to meet up with her new 'friend', and when she arrived she was pretty shocked to find who was waiting for her._

_"Andrew?"_

_"Oh, hey Lila," Andrew said walking towards her, "If you're here I guess that means we're partners in this little scavenger hunt,"_

_"...I guess so," Lila wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, Andrew being her friend for this search was better than being forced to spend the day with a stranger. But on the other hand, Andrew was very perceptive especially when it came to her dishonesty so how was she gonna hide that she was getting outside help in this contest?_

_Both their phones went off as they received the text with their first riddle that would lead them to their next location. Andrew began to read, "Alright...'We hope you're excited to have met your new friend and hopefully they've brought a smile to your face. Your next clue is at a smile with a more mysterious origin'..."_

_Lila had already copied the riddle and had sent it to Gabriel Agreste while Andrew was thinking._

_"Mysterious smile...that has to be-"_

_Lila cut Andrew off cause she already got a response, "The Mona Lisa, for years it was a mystery why she was smiling. Our next clue is at The Louvre!"_

_Andrew nodded, "Real shame neither of us can drive, that's like a 30-minute walk," he said, "I guess they really wanted to make sure we had time to get to know our new friend," he said before the two of them began walking._

* * *

_Even though this time was probably meant for small talk and to get to know each other, Lila could really see that Andrew really wasn't much of a talker. The last time they walked together there hadn't been much small talk because they had only walked a short distance, but now they had time to spare and then some and yet Andrew was silent._

_After a while of silence Lila was the one to break it, "You're not gonna try and get to know me better now that I'm forced to spend time with you?" she asked, mostly joking but still somewhat curious._

_"I'm horrible at initiating conversation, and I'm not the best at continuing it either," Andrew said with a shrug, "Normally when I hang out with friends its usually the others that do most of the talking while I just listen and occasionally give a response to let them know I'm still listening. Unless it's with Izzy, it's easy for me to make conversation with her,"_

_That answer seemed to make sense, "Hm, okay then. With you being a writer, I thought you would've had a way with words and be a great conversationalist," Lila said._

_Andrew shrugged, "Just the way things turned out I guess," the blonde looked at her, "Why do you ask, do you want me to get to know you better?" he asked, there were no signs that he was teasing her by asking that._

_Regardless Lila's cheeks grew warm and she looked ahead, "Well, it's not like we have anything better to do while we walk, so you might as well," she said._

_"Well...what's your favorite color?" Andrew asked._

_The Italian girl laughed, "Seriously, that's the best you could come up with?" she asked._

_"I told you I'm not good at this,"_

* * *

_The two teens shared small talk and learned small trivia about one another – such as favorite colors, foods, animals, and other stuff like that – until they arrived at The Louvre where they found their next clue. The next few riddles Lila would send to Gabriel Agreste and he'd give her the answers, and thankfully the next few locations were less of a walk than the first one was._

_Occasionally instead of a riddle they'd get an easy challenge like taking a selfie with the other's phone. At first Lila had been worried that Andrew would see her text conversation with Gabriel, but thankfully he didn't. Or he had and simply didn't say anything._

_But things changed when Andrew and Lila had followed their latest clue to the Ladybug and Chat Noir statue in the park. They had gotten a news alert that someone had been akumatized into a giant robotic samurai centaur that went by the name Ikari Gozen. Thankfully the akuma was a good enough distance away that it wouldn't really be any danger to them._

_The riddle they found there had to be the last one. when Lila had tried getting an answer from Gabriel, he seemed to just dropped off the face of the earth and stopped sending Lila the answers._

_"Well, that's just perfect," Lila muttered under her breath._

_"Yeah, an akuma appearance is certainly not a good thing on what is supposed to be a day of friendship," Andrew said._

_Lila sighed, "No it's not about that," she said, "I can't figure out this riddle,"_

_Andrew looked at her, "Really? Well, I guess since you've been on a roll this whole time it would make sense that one of these riddles stumping you would be upsetting," he said, "But that's alright, you can't win them all. Let's just sit down and think this one through," Andrew went to a nearby park bench and sat down._

_"No, I think we can say goodbye to our chances of winning at this point," Lila said as she sat down next to him, "But of course it makes sense that we get so close only to trip at the finish line," she said as she slumped back. Gabriel must've stopped responding because the akuma was close by or had a business call that prevented him from using his phone._

_"Well, I wasn't really expecting to win anyway," Andrew said._

_Lila looked at the blonde, "Then why did you sign up for this if you didn't think you would win?" she asked._

_"Actually, it was Izzy signed me up, mostly as a joke saying that I needed to take a day and go out and see if I could make a new friend," Andrew said, "though Izzy probably wouldn't have done it if she knew I was gonna get paired up with you," he said with a slight chuckle._

_His answer got Lila curious, "How did you become friends with Izzy anyway? You two seem super different from each other, I get that opposites tend to gravitate towards one another, but I'm curious as to how you two became such great friends in the first place," it had been a question that crossed Lila's mind from time to time when she saw the way Izzy and Andrew acted around one another when she hung out with them, she had just never bothered to ask._

_Andrew didn't immediately answer, as if he was trying to remember how it happened himself, "Well...it's actually kinda similar to how I became friends with you, with some differences," he said, grabbing her attention, "Several years ago when I was a kid, before I got into writing...my life was kind of boring. I guess you could say I was a sheltered kid by choice, I didn't hang out with other much cause I preferred to stay inside and read." he said._

_"Sounds about right," Lila said, definitely wanting to hear more._

_The blonde continued to tell his story, "The other kids would have these fun and cool stories to tell during class because they were going out and doing unique and interesting things, and I... had nothing. I tried to tell stories about what was going on in my life, but they were always brushed aside and ignored for being too boring or not all that unique because everyone else had already done that. So, determined to prove that my life wasn't boring..."_

_Her eyes widened a bit as it clicked in Lila's head, "You started to lie," she finished for him._

_The blonde nodded, "Yep, I would lie, nothing crazy, but small little lies here and there to spice things up and make it more interesting, but still believable," he said._

_Lila almost couldn't believe what she was hearing, "So... you were like me?" she asked._

_"I guess you could say that," Andrew said, "But there was a difference, I didn't enjoy it. I thought that making my stories more interesting would make me feel better about my boring life, but lying just seemed to remind me about how I wasn't interesting enough for them. They didn't care about what I truly had to say, and while people were aware of my existence, I didn't truly have any friends. So after a while I became quieter. If my life wasn't interesting enough and lying wasn't doing anything...why share anything at all?" he sighed, "But then I met Izzy, or I guess Izzy met me,"_

_"Go on," Lila said._

_"One day I was eating lunch and Izzy just sat by me and started talking to me, turns out she didn't have many friends either but saw I was by myself and introduced herself. She saw through my lies and didn't care that I lied either, I wasn't hurting anyone after all. Now that I had a friend I could be more honest and stop lying. It didn't matter that I was a bit boring, she was a bit crazy so we balanced each other out. And the rest is history."_

_Lila couldn't help but stare at Andrew, "That's why you wanted to be my friend when everyone was against me, you had been in a similar position and wanted to help," she said._

_Andrew looked at her with a smile, "Well, there was no guarantee that it would work, but I had to give it me best shot right?" he gave her a smile that warmed her insides._

_Before she could respond their phones went off and they check to see that the search was over, Adrien had been found at the wax museum by Alya and a guy with dark blonde hair that neither of them recognized, "Looks like we lost," Lila said._

_"Yeah, and you're no longer forced to spend time with me," Andrew said with a chuckle, "But hey, maybe we could still do something. I could give you another violin lesson," Andrew said._

_A few days after the events of Sorsurreal Andrew had started giving Lila violin lessons. At first Lila had been upset with him for not telling her that Reed Davies was his dad, and as an apology Andrew had offered to make if so that she could get lessons from his dad instead. But Lila decided to stick with Andrew._

_Another lesson was definitely tempting, but her phone started to buzz. She looked down and saw she was getting a call from Gabriel Agreste, "Maybe some other time, this is probably important and I should probably head home anyway," she said._

_"Alright, understandable," Andrew nodded, "Well, see you at school then," he gave her a slight salute before walking away._

_When Andrew was out of earshot Lila answered the phone, "Hello?"_

_"It's disappointing to see that you weren't able to win and find my son first, but no matter," the fashion designer's cold voice echoed in her ear, "There will be other opportunities, there is still work to be done. I will let you know when I am in need of your assistance again," he said._

_Lila nodded, "Yes sir, thank your Mr. Agreste," she said before he hung up._

* * *

-*X*x*X*-

* * *

Lila was brought out of the memory by Andrew speaking again, "I understand if you don't want to, I'll let you get to your phone call," he said before he walked by her and started to make his way towards the library.

Lila looked between her phone and Andrew a few times before looking back at her still buzzing phone, it was the call from Gabriel Agreste she had been waiting for. She lifted a finger and it hovered over the screen.

She looked back at Andrew's retreating figure one last time before looking back at her phone, she took a deep breath and tapped on the decline button on her screen. The call went away and she was now looking at the background picture of her phone, it was the selfie Andrew had taken with her phone on Friendship Day, while it wasn't the best selfie. It was dorky and endearing...just like Andrew. Lila smiled at the picture before silencing her phone and putting it away so that it wouldn't bother her for a while.

"Andrew, wait up!" She called out as she went after him.

The blonde stopped and turned around, he looked surprised that she had followed after him, "Lila? But what about your phone call, wasn't it important?" he asked.

Lila waved a dismissive hand, "Eh, not really," she said, "Still up for having company in the library?" she asked with a smile.

Andrew returned the smile, "Of course," he said and the two teens started to walk to the library together.

* * *

"So is this project gonna be a story or a painting," Lila asked as Andrew was scanning the bookshelves.

"I'm not sure yet," Andrew said, "Maybe both? I was originally gonna do a painting, but from what I've already researched this has the potential to be a great story too," he stopped scanning and started to pull some books off of the shelf.

Lila took a peek at some of the books, "Egyptian mythology?" she asked.

Andrew nodded, "Yep, my next project is about a legend that's said to have existed in ancient Egypt," he said.

"I see, well hopefully it's not about the ladybug miraculous holder from that time," Lila said.

The bookworm chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure it isn't about the ladybug goddess," he said as he handed her a book as started to flip through the book in his hand and walk to one of the nearby study tables.

Lila walked with him and saw that Andrew had flipped to a page that had a picture depicting a scorpion on it, "Don't you think you should hold off on reading until you've sat down? We wouldn't want you accidently walking into a bookcase and having a couple of loose books fall on you," she said with a giggle.

"I appreciate the concern Lila," Andrew said, not looking up from his book, "but I know this place like the back of my hand, I'm sure I'll be able to avoid walking into a wall or- Woah!"

Andrew was cut off when he tripped over a stack of books someone had left on the floor and started to fall down. Out of instinct Lila tried grabbing Andrew's hand in order to stop his fall, but that only resulted in him being pulled down with him and they both fell down to the ground.

Lila wasn't sure what she had landed on, but it wasn't the floor. And whe she lifted her head a little and got her bearing she found herself staring into Andrew's deep blue eyes. Lila's eyes went wide and her cheeks went red when she realized what her situation was, she was laying on top of Andrew.

Andrew's face looked as red as her face felt, and both teens could feel each other's heartbeats, which were growing faster. Neither of them knew what to do or say, they were just frozen there staring into each other's eyes.

"...Hi," Andrew said, breaking the silence. Lila's face grew hotter as she could feel his breath on her face.

"Hi," Was all she could say back, she was trying to think if she had ever been this close to Andrew before.

"Uhhh...you should probably get off me," Andrew said.

Lila nodded, "Yeah, I probably should," she said, olive green stared into blue and they just stayed there, neither of them made any moves. Or were they moving? Cause it seemed like they were starting to lean towards each other. And before either Andrew or Lila knew it, their lips met.

The contact seemed to snap the teens out of their trance and they pulled away a little bit, both of them shocked at what had just happened. Their hearts were pounding and their faces were beet red. Neither of them said anything, but Andrew's eyes glanced at Lila's lips before meeting her gaze again. Understanding the silent question, Lila nodded and their lips met again in a tender kiss.

Their eyes closed as both teens became lost in the contact, the world almost fading around them.

"Andrew, where are you?"

Almost, completely faded, the voice was definitely enough to snap them out of it.

It was Izzy's voice.

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

**W.R. Winters: And there we go! What did you think?**

**Starskulls: *looking green in the face and retching* I think I'm gonna be sick...**

**W.R. Winters: What? You didn't like it?**

**Starskulls: I did...up until that Lila and Andrew kiss scene *gags***

**W.R. Winters: *rolls eyes* Oh stop being such a drama queen.**

**Starskulls: Let's just get to the review responses so I can forget that kiss ever happened.**

* * *

_DragoonSensei:_  
_Bit shorter chapter but great as always._  
_Can't wait for the next chapter._  
_I fear the day when Izzy and Lila will work united against a common target._  
**Starskulls: Well, we'll just have to wait and see if that happens. Here's your cupcake and we're glad you enjoyed the chapter!**  
**W.R. Winters: Yeah, the world should be very afriad should a time ever come where Lila and Izzy form an aliance against a common enemy.**

_KagamiPINKAgreste:_  
_Happy Holidays to you both, thank you for creating this great story. From your personal OCs to the plot points it's been a real joyful ride. Wolfie... yea when comes to Cattastic Kitty Cat Noir fur-om mew YOU BETTER RUN! (Holds a chainsaw)_  
_ON TO MY REVIEW: Sorsurreal... WAY TO GO! Ladybrat armless, that's a true masterpiece. Tho my perfer blasting her head be next? Something like a sculpture on stone, than smash into rubble?_  
_Minerva, listen to Izzy. As everything honestly has two different sides. - "What she is trying to say that the honest truth is good but it's the way you say it. You don't know who you could hurt," Ladybug said. - Yea Lila, I feel your pain being around HER a mintune is to long._  
_The Charm nice work Izzy. Actually grabbed her shoulder, Lila damn I'm sorry. But Ladybrat bossing wasn't the time, Lila had faith in Izzy. See Ladybrat trust more. Minerva falling as Lila I would try to suppress giggles. I mean she's running with vinegar all over her, she's bound to slip up. ;)_  
_\- Izzy then held out her fist to Lila. The girls looked in separate directions but bumped fists with a secret smile hidden on their faces. - So LLOOVVEE this line. The girls are starting to be civil more. Right they both had a reason to stop this akuma poor Andrew. Lila hugging Andrew cute._  
**Starskulls: I see you changed your name pinksakura271, I figured that was you begause you always give us the long and detailed reviews. Glad you enjoyed it, and if your thought the hug was cute...then you'll probably like this chapter. Enjoy your cupcake!**  
**W.R. Winters: Yeah this was a pretty Andrew/Lila heavy chapter, and there was very little mention of Ladybug so you're probably happy about that too. I look forward to see your thoughts on this chapter.**

_Animegamefanatic:_  
_Sorry about the long review _; sometimes I get carried away especially when something's on my mind._  
_I'm liking Lila's redemption; she does seem like she's going to have some ups and down but ultimately chooses Andrew regardless of what hawkmoth does._  
_I got a strong feeling the next time we see Chloe most of the wind will be knocked out of her, and Ladybug won't be giving her the bee miraculous next time; she never really earned/deserved Pollen in the first place to be truthful, especially after all the crap she's pulled, and I'm hoping her karma comes._  
**Starskulls: Chloe did get some sweet sweet well-deserved karma, hopefully it was satisfying enough for you! And I totally agree, Chloe never deserved a miraculous and hopefully she never gets it ever again! She certainly won't in this story!**  
**W.R. Winters: I'm glad you're enjoying Lila's arc in this story, and I hope you continue to enjoy it too. And you don't have to apologize for writing a long review, we enjoy reviews of all lengths so don't be afraid to go all out.**

_GirlPower54:_  
_Decided to wait until both parts came out to review. What Chloe did was so wrong and I'm glad her and the mayor are going to face the consequences for that. I like this Lila arc you got going. Izzy did good in part 1 with the slap. Also Ladybug losing an arm felt satisfying. Izzy's right, there's a dividing line between constructive (being honest) and brutal (being a bit-). Lila plz, Chloe is a horrible piece of art. All in all I enjoyed this two parter_**  
Starskulls: Glad you enjoyed it and hopefully you approve of the consequences!**  
**W.R. Winters: I'm glad so many of you are enjoying the arc, and like I said before I hope you continue to enjoy the arc and this story.**

* * *

**W.R. Winters: And that's the last of them.**

**Starskulls: Okay now that this story is back. hopefully we'll be able to give you guys regular updates every two weeks again. With the current state of the world right now we definitely have more than enough free time to write.**

**W.R. Winters: Again, sorry this chapter took so long, but hopefully the wait was worth it. Be sure to leave a review telling us your thoughts, and be sure to say happy birthday to my co-author!**

**Starskulls: Hopefully we see you guys in two weeks!**

**W.R. Winters: This is W.R. Winters and Starskulls the birthday girl, signing off.**


	9. Chapter 8

**W.R. Winters: Well...at least it wasn't six months this time.**

**Starskulls: Yeah, three months is a definite improvement!**

**W.R. Winters: And hopefully the time between updates continues to grow shorter and shorter, we shall see. But in others news, the New York Special recently aired, what did everyone think of it?**

**Starskulls: *shrugs* i thought it was meh, didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. I really didn't like most of the American heroes, way too preachy.**

**W.R. Winters: I enjoyed it, mostly for the new information about the miraculous and some of the miraculous powers. Honestly I could've lived without the Love Square being brought up every five minutes and Alya's behavior was really something I couldn't approve of or get behind. She's trying to move on from her crush on Adrien and you're literally making things worse for her. At least Nino's main priority was to get Adrien to loosen up and enjoy his time in New York.**

**Starskulls: Yeah, but enough about the special let's get on with the chapter we have for you guys today! This is one we've been wanting to write for a while.**

**W.R. Winters: Indeed, no spoilers, but this is where things really start to pick up. So we'll stop talking and let you get to reading.**

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

* * *

_**Recap of the last chapter: Things in Paris have changed drastically. Due to the demands of the citizens, Andre Bourgeois is no longer Mayor of Paris and has been removed from office. With her daddy having no more power to protector, Chloe has been suspended and is no longer the Queen B of the school. What's more was that she would be serving a sentence of community service as a way to give back to the city. The school was throwing a party to celebrate how things had changed for the better. Lila tried to separate herself from the party as she was expecting a call from Gabriel Agreste and what he needed her to do next. However she ran into Andrew who offered her a chance to join him for some research in the library. And when stuck between a choice of helping Gabriel Agreste and helping her chances of getting with Adrien or hanging out with her friend...she chose the latter. At the library, after a small accident caused by the unfortunate placement of a stack of books on the ground, Lila and Andrew found themself in a scenario that lead to them kissing. Kissing that probably would've continued if not for the sudden appearance of Izzy.**_

* * *

CHAPTER 8: Business and Betrayal

* * *

Well this was a situation Andrew thought he'd never find himself in. He was in a library covered in books and…a girl. An actual girl. Good heavens what was the world doing to him?! Lila seemed to feel the same way, but he was pretty sure his cheeks matched her ones.

"What did we just do?!" Lila almost shrieked.

"I don't know!" Andrew spluttered. Then for no apparent through no fault of their own, their lips locked again. It was only for a millisecond, but this caused them both to yell again.

"Stop it!" Lila said as she attempted to get up but slipped on the open page books on the floor. Footprints from Lila's thick soles started to rip, tear and stain the books as she tried to scramble up to get her balance back.

"You're ruining the books!" Andrew said as he tried to get up. It was unsuccessful and then pair ended up falling on each other again. Andrew was quite fearful that Grizz would be crushed. Then again, being thousands of years old, he had probably slept through a lot worse.

"Yeah that's the main issue here!" Lila snapped as she managed to get up, practically kneeing Andrew in the…well in the place that would make any man squeal. Andrew was not one to squeal but a loud yell and a wheeze escaped his mouth and he caved his body in with pain.

"This can't get any worse…" Andrew wheezed as he rolled onto his side slightly, his hands protecting himself discreetly. Heck, forget discreetly, he was in more pain than an akuma could cause him. Oh man he just jinxed himself.

"Yes, it can," Lila said in dismay. Andrew titled his head over and to his horror, saw Izzy standing there with her phone in one hand and a drink in the other hand.

There was a long pause. Lila and Andrew were frozen in their current positions. Izzy slowly raised her drink to her mouth and slurped the straw. The phone didn't move. Her expression was blank. There was no wind. No sound. It felt as if everything was in slow-motion. It even felt as if the earth itself had halted.

Finally, the silence broke.

"Well uh…if you guys wanted to continue this then I would have suggested another room. Maybe the art closet?" Izzy said with an odd look in her eye. "The art sheets would make a nice…"

"Shut up!" Andrew said as Lila threw a book at her.

Izzy shifted her head to the side slightly as the book sailed past her. Izzy could hear the small giggles of Jinxx in her tutu ruffles. She shifted slightly on her feet as a warning to quieten down. The giggling went down, but she knew Jinxx was biting her tongue to hold in her laughter.

"It's not what it looks like!" Lila said as she then waved her arms about.

"Oh, I think the footage would disagree," Izzy stated as she stopped the filming and put her phone away.

"Please don't post that!" Andrew begged as he got to his knees and took in deep breaths.

"Breath in through your nose, out through your mouth," Izzy said. Andrew did as he was instructed, and while it still hurt, the pain eased a bit better.

"For goodness sake, can we focus please?!" Lila practically shrieked. Thankfully the librarian was on her break, otherwise there'd be hell to pay. Izzy chuckled.

"Relax, I'm just going to have it for when I'm depressed. Seeing you get kneed in the nuts isn't a common occurrence you know," Izzy stated, "And I'm sure this is a moment you lovebirds are gonna want to remember," she added with a giggle.

"Thank you…I guess," Andrew said as he got up.

Lila blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected Izzy to respond like that. Now that she thought about it, Izzy had been quite observant when Lila was mentioning her 'friendship' to Andrew. Perhaps she had been too biased against Izzy. Then again if she was in Izzy's position, she knew for a fact that she would have posted it. That made her feel slightly ashamed.

"Are you sure?" Lila asked, giving Izzy a secret look.

"Relax, I'm not Alya. I believe that pictures should be there for three reasons. One for memories, two for funnies and three for celebratory reasons," Izzy said, "I say this one falls into all three,"

"Well, thank you…I appreciate it," Lila said with an honest nod.

"To be quite honest, it was rather funny to see you lose your hair like that. It's also not a common occurrence," Izzy said with a snicker.

"You're pushing your luck," Lila said with a frown and her arms folded.

"No more than you pushing each other's lips on each other," Izzy retorted, making the pair blush again before fanning themselves.

"Oh, knock it off!" Lila said, turning away from Izzy and Andrew and folding her arms. She was doing her best not to show how much she was flustered but that was not going too well.

Noting that Lila had her back towards them, she looked over at Andrew, who was now looking slightly less red and pale, and made a motion with her eyeballs.

"Well uh when you're ready Andrew, I'd like to have a word outside please," Izzy said, making a swift turn out of the library.

Andrew finally got to his feet and started to clear up the books, "Okay I'm just going to put these backs and then I'm going to pop outside for a bit. Then we can get to business," Andrew said, and his blush returned when he realized how that could be interpreted.

"Business?" Lila asked with a raised eyebrow. Andrew frantically waved his hands in the air before spluttering to himself and rushing outside after Izzy.

"Not that kind of business!" Andrew yelled on his way out.

* * *

Izzy leant against the wall a little to the left of the door. She unintentionally found herself squeezing the cup of her drink but exhaled deeply. Jinxx looked up at her worriedly but Izzy sent her a smile to assure her. That was something she didn't expect to see. Initially she thought it was funny, hence the phone. Would she post it? Of course not, she would keep her word. But the mental image would stick in her head for a while.

It was so…unusual. She didn't know what this emotion was. It didn't feel like the ugly monster known as jealously. it wasn't anger… nor was it sadness… it was more on the confusing end of the spectrum.

The snapping of the latch of the door makes her turn slightly to see Andrew coming out.

He shook his hands and took a few deep breaths before attempting to gain his usual calm mood. Izzy watched him in amusement. One of her favourite things to watch Andrew do was calm himself down. It was like watching a mime.

"Relax…breathe…I am an adult," Andrew said, making Izzy smirk.

"You're an idiot," she called, practically making him jump out of his skin.

He even made a karate motion with his hands, only to be met with Izzy's grinning face. He scowled as he adjusted his hat and walked over to her. Quite frankly his brain was still trying to process what happened and he didn't need this teasing. Izzy would tease him to the ends of the earth for this.

"Alright enough," Andrew said as he folded his arms. Izzy still looked pretty gleeful.

"Aw what's wrong," Izzy said, then randomly pulling out a picture of a pail and holding it up. "You seem a little…pail."

Cue the long pause.

"You suck," Andrew said through gritted teeth.

"That's mean! I thought I was…the loaf of your life?" Izzy said as she pulled out another

picture; only this one was a picture of bread. Tick marks appeared on the sides of Andrew's temples.

"Izzy…" he seethed.

"Yeesh okay. I mean what happened in there?" Izzy said, still holding the cards, much to Andrew's annoyance. He adjusted his hat and looked around before responding.

"Yeah, I know, I didn't know what I was doing. I kinda fell and things just got out of hand," Andrew said and as Izzy was about to speak, Andrew narrowed his eyes. "I swear, if you make a pun about hands…"

"I wouldn't do that!" Izzy said in mock hurt.

"Good," Andrew said in relief. Izzy then put on an innocent look as she slowly pulled out one final picture.

"I know, I mean when I walked in there…it looked like it was getting steamy," she said as she saw Andrew's eye twitch at the sight of the steamed dumpling.

"That's it!" Andrew yelled, causing Izzy to screech with laughter as she took off down the hall, with Andrew hot on her tail, waving his paint brush about.

* * *

Back with Lila, she let out a sigh as she finished clearing up the books off the floor. She stacked them back in their original places, but even doing all these tasks, it didn't get rid of the hot blush going across her cheeks.

That was such a surprise kiss! And what the most curious part was that Andrew didn't even pull away. In fact, he kissed her more. Did that mean that he liked her too? Wait when did she even think that? Did she like him? He was a book worm. But…could he be her book worm?

She clutched her hand to her chest as she felt it tighten and the possibility of Andrew being her actual boyfriend. No lies or anything. And now that she was friendly…of sorts…with Izzy, there wouldn't be any issues. But while she didn't mind Izzy, they were friends with Marinette. Ugh she always had a sour spot for that pastry girl. But maybe, just maybe!

Something could change.

"All I have to do is just be honest," Lila said with a small smile.

She noted the time and realised that Andrew and Izzy had been a while. Surely, they wouldn't mind if she popped in to say something. Of course not! They were her friends. Her actual friends! Putting the last book back, she took off out of the library and looked around the open corridor.

Huh they weren't there. Well, if she knew them, they would either be at the park, since Andrew loved to paint there for inspiration, or the science lab where Izzy made her peculiar science pranks. With a content smile, she took off in the direction of the lab.

* * *

Lila was walking with a big smile on her face, which weirded out some students as she walked by. Usually if she had a face like that on then people usually expected a lie. Not this time. Lila was just…content. She was making progress; she was doing well in classes and she had a somewhat friend in Izzy. And then there was Andrew.

While she was not one to blurt out feelings, she was completely aware on how her heart was starting to speed up ever so slightly when she was around him. Her confidence grew with each step she took towards the lab. However, she heard the loud voice of Izzy just as she entered the classroom. She paused and looked around.

No one was in here.

Lila was confused, but then she realized that the back room was the most likely place they'd be. Slowly she tip-toed towards the door and indeed, Izzy's loud voice rang out.

"Oh, lighten up, it was only for fun," Izzy said.

"I don't appreciate your puns and I swear, if you say anything else…" Andrew warned, causing her to snicker.

"Or what, you'll paint me to death?" Izzy stated. There was a long pause and Lila knew he was pouting at this point.

"You suck," he muttered. Lila almost laughed at his lack of quick-witted responses.

"Anwyay! So, what did you want to talk about?" Izzy asked.

"What do you mean? You called me?" Andrew said in confusion.

"No, you text me last night. You wanted to talk about Lila," Izzy said. Lila was surprised at this but even more so when she didn't hear Izzy vomit at her name. but more importantly, Andrew wanted to talk about her?

"Ah of course yes. So, you are aware of her recent changes yes?" Andrew asked.

"Yes, I am. Noted in classes and recent akuma events," Izzy said as Lila heard the scuffle of paper. She was slightly annoyed at this. She had been taking notes on her?!

"I didn't ask for notes," Andrew said awkwardly.

"I know. But I know you want to see progress when you're not around," Izzy said. There was a pause as Lila heard Andrew going through the papers and heard him muttering praises under his breath. She felt her cheeks warm up at this.

"Wow this is great," Andrew said.

"I know. Alya should stick that in her blog," Izzy said with a laugh.

Andrew scowled, "This blog is what fueled everything. Alya needs to tone it down with her labels," Andrew stated. Lila was then surprised when Izzy let out an annoyed huff and scoff at Andrew.

"Sure, the guy who came up with the nickname 'Lie-talian', thinks it's not okay to give labels. Ironic that you're the one that ended up becoming her boyfriend,"

Lila felt her heart stop. Andrew…was the one who came up with that name? The name that she had been constantly bullied for? That slandered her? That was spray painted on her locker? That featured her in a blog with over a thousand views? More importantly, it was the name that had changed her and broken her.

Tears started to prick in her eyes, but a sense of betrayal and rage filled her mind. Her fists clenched and gritted her teeth and she started to pant in order to keep her screams in. The fact that it had come from someone who she had trusted, opened up to and spent time with enough for her to start developing feelings?

With a choked sob, Lila fled the room.

* * *

Izzy titled her head as she thought she heard something and shook it off. She looked back at Andrew who had a huge look of guilt on his face. It was true. When he had heard of Lila's lies for the first time, he had jokingly said it to Izzy who had found it funny. In turn, other people heard this, and it had started to spread around the school like wildfire, eventually making its way to the internet where there was no place to hide. He was going to tell Lila, but he had no idea how to bring it up.

"Okay yes I did, but I said it as a joke! I didn't think it would turn into this, I never would've wanted it to spread if i knew how much pain it would cause her," Andrew said, making gestures with his hands.

Izzy raised an eyebrow and pretended to look shocked, "You mean that you didn't think a nickname wouldn't stick to someone for like in high school where nicknames, gossip and slander are the foundations of social lives, that is shocking," Izzy said with such a sarcastic tone, it made him nauseous.

"Which is why I wanted to help me organise a surprise party!" Andrew said lightly.

"You think a party will fix this?" she asked.

"No, but it's a way to show her that people appreciate her being honest now," Andrew said. Izzy sighed and nodded.

"Alright I'll help. But only cause you're my friend. And to clarify, you're doing this to show her that you like her honesty?" Izzy said with a small smirk. Andrew didn't pick up the hint.

"Yes, why else?" Andrew asked. Izzy laughed as she pulled out her tablet.

"I'll tell you later you, I swear you can be as clueless as Adrien," She said, "Alright, let's get to work then," Izzy said as she opened a clean page.

* * *

Lila didn't know where she was going, and she didn't care. She just needed to get far far away from the school, far away from her classmates, from from her 'friends', far from...him.

Lila tore through the crowds as she had run down the street, not bearing to look anyone in the eye anymore. She was done. She didn't care what people thought anymore.

As she turned and ran down streets she had never gone down before, clouds started to gather, and rain started to fall. The rain masking her tears as they flowed down her cheeks like waterfalls. Her sobs only continued as she tripped over and fell in the middle of a quiet street.

She looked down and saw her reflection in the puddle underneath her. Had she really been so stupid to think that they actually cared about her?

Andrew and Izzy were the ones that called her out, Andrew came up with that nickname, Izzy must've been mocking her cause she could see she was falling for Andrew. Ever since she was called out, Andrew and Lila had been hanging out with Adrien, Marinette, Nino, and Alya...they must've been on it too. This was all just a game for them, a sick twisted game that they had been building up for some kind of grand finale.

That must've been what Andrew wanted to talk to Izzy about, they must've been planning to humiliate her in some grand spectacle.

"I hate them…I hate them all!" Lila screamed as she slammed her fists onto the road, making a large splash.

* * *

The window whirred open, shedding light onto a pleased looking Hawkmoth. He had sensed that Lila was holding something back for a while and now. Something that had been festering in the back of her mind for weeks even months. And thanks to some newly discovered information, those emotions had blown into something quite staggering.

"Sticks and stones may break bones, but words are such devastating weapons. From the right mouth a single sentence can tear even the strongest person down. A perfect emotional turmoil from someone who feels betrayed. A perfect target for my akuma," Hawkmoth said as he turned a white butterfly into a terrifying cracked insect of evil.

He released it as it then headed for the window, "Fly away my little Akuma, and bring back the darkness buried deep within," he said, an the akuma then flew out the window and into the rainy Paris sky.

* * *

The akuma flew completely unbothered by the rain, it was on a mission. It was heading right towards the sobbing Italian girl and was about to fuse with the earring on Lila's left ear.

What happened next was something that no one could have predicted, not even Hawkmoth.

The akuma hovered inches away from the earring, but then turned around and flew away like a bat out of hell, almost as if it was…scared of something.

Then as it flew away, the magic went away and it turned back to white.

* * *

"What?! I can still feel the emotions, but what happened to me Akuma?"

Then suddenly Hawkmoth de-transformed back into Gabriel, Nooroo flying out of the broach and hid behind his master.

"What is it Nooroo?!" Gabriel asked, surprisingly not angry. Instead it was a mixture of confusion and concern. Nooroo always had to obey him even if he didn't want to. But the fact that Nooroo had dropped his powers and forced him out of a transformation against his wished, it clearly showed that something wasn't right.

"Master…it's out there…it's calling…it's evil…" Nooroo said while trembling. Gabriel looked at the kwami and then out of the window with a thoughtful gaze.

* * *

The brunette continued to sob, completely unaware of the events that had just occurred.

_"Lila…"_

Lila lifted her head and looked around. No one had followed her, and the street was practically empty, "Hello?" she called out as she got to her feet, sniffing and wiping her nose.

_"Oh, Lila..."_

The voice sounded...odd. It was silky smooth, but not in a pleasant way. It was ominous and covered her skin in goosebumps. What was more was that somehow she was hearing the voice in her ears and in her mind. Almost like when Hawkmoth would speak to her. But the voice wasn't Hawkmoth's, the voice made her curious.

_"Lila… Come find me, Lila…"_

Lila looked around and her eye caught sight of a shop that she hadn't noticed before. It seemed to be where the voice was coming from.

She quickly headed over to look in the shop's large glass window, it was an old antique shop. It didn't seem anything special. Typical old junk that was older then her, some of the stuff may have even been older than her mom.

But then… her eye caught hold of something. She needed to squint her eyes to get a better look at it. It was covered with a layer of dust, but she could just barely make out an ancient looking red symbol on the box...she had seen that symbol somewhere before.

Her eyes widened as it clicked in her mind where she had seen that symbol before, it was the same symbol she had seen on the cover of Gabriel Agreste's book, "No way…" she breathed.

Looking in the display window, her eyes travelled to the shelves behind it and balanced in the middle of a shelf between some old vases…was a small eight-sided box.

A Miracle Box.

* * *

**-*X*x*X*-**

**Starskulls: *playing on keys* Dun. DUN. DUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN!**

**W.R. Winters: How did you get an organ in here?**

**Starskulls: I have my methods.**

**W.R. Winters: Alright then, so hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter. This is pretty much the first big twist of the story. Will there be more? Of course, this is a story after all and its nowhere close to being done.**

**Starskulls: Yep, Lila hates everyone again. Balance is restored!**

**W.R. Winters: *rolls his eyes* Let's just get to the review responses.**

* * *

_animegamefanatic  
well at least some events never happened, like Mari being expelled._  
_Couldn't Chloe be jailed for the train incident? Though I hope Andre and Chloe are miserable...i got a feeling the hotel isn't doing well after what happened and people are making chloe's job harder with community service._  
_At least Lila's improving. Somewhat; hopefully she'll give Marinette a proper apology.  
_**Starskulls: Well, given the events of this chapter I wouldn't hold out on hope for that apology. Ooo I hadn't thought of that, yeah its very likely that the hotel is losing business because of this too. As it should! They're rich, they can handle losing business for a while. And yes there are certain canon events that won't happen in our story, the events of the Ladybug-Sentimonster episode are one of them.  
****W.R. Winters: Technically she could've been jailed, but at the time I didn't do any research about whether had juvinile detention centers, and plus Andre could easily have bailed her out. So we went with community service instead. And yes i'm sure there are people that will make it harder for her, not too much harder though. We wouldn't want her to become akumatized and cause more damage.**

_DragoonSensei  
A very nice chapter._  
_The shipper in me is real at war whit this one._  
_For one I Love redemtion romance it is always well build and very rewarding._  
_But I want a happy Izzy and a happy Andrew. If Lila gets Andrew then Izzy will be lonely!_  
**Starskulls: Well, with how things went here I'm sure that the war is over! you don't have to worry about Izzy being alone anymore!... Well I don't know how your shipper brain will react to this chapter. Let us know!  
W.R. Winters: We're glad you enjoyed the laster chapter and that it got the shipper inside you thinking, Like my co-author said I'm curious on how the events of this chapter ****have influence the shipper inside you.**

_KagamiPINKAgreste  
Happy birthday Starskulls. I do hope it's great for you. Yeah Wolfie worked on this for awhile. I'm thrilled him delivered it for you're b-day. Glad you could tell it was me. Yeah felt it was time to change my User Name. Especially considering my Adrigami heart as an author hit me._  
_ON TO MY REVIEW: Really - The people had been suffering at the hands of the Bourgeois family for too long, and what lead to the akumatization of Sorsurreal was the straw that broke the camel's back. - Damn took you people long enough. Bourgeois lose their unfair power/authority? *HISS-TERICAL LAUGHTER* If I'm dreaming DON'T wake me up. Finally people grow some brains. I vote you have Armand D'Argencourt ('Darkblade' - Season 1) try his hand at his political right. _  
_Awww. . . Sabrina no. It's NOT you're fault. Even if you tried, you wouldn't have been able to help Cholé out this mess. You have always deserved better than that spoiled, selfish, rude, unappreciative brat. Izzy brilliant thinking letting Sabrina hang out with you and Andrew. Tho wait 3 smartest? You're forgetting Adrien and Max in that category._  
_Izzy take it slow with Sabrina. Don't be rude. - Whatever magic Andrew was working on Lila was definitely working.- That's simple Izzy, MLP: Friendship is Magic. Really Izzy played matchmaker for Andrew, I'm NOT suprised just scared. Seriously her science crazed pranks are freaky, romantic coupling HELL NO! PEOPLE HIT THE FLOOR! Nice Lila told Andrew the truth it's easier than lying. Tho yes Lila is clever and sharp in that department. *Wink*_  
_The flashback was pinkish purrfect. - Annual Friendship Day Celebrity Scavenger Hunt - so LOVE 'Ikari Gozen' Alya and Wayhem had won. - Andrew really wasn't much of a talker - I can respect that when it's some stranger. But someone familiar I definitely CAN'T! Lila he's first question isn't bad. It's tiny ice breaker. I myself normally start with that one. OR maybe Would You Rather?_  
_Wait. . . - sheltered kid by choice, I didn't hang out with other much cause I preferred to stay inside and read. - huh that sounds exactly like myself. *Sweet Smile* Yet I'm never bored. EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY?! *FAINTS* That stupid Ladybug, SHE'S NOT A GODDESS! NO MENTION OF AN EGYPTIAN KITTY NOIR! 'The Pharaoh' was damn annoying. Thomas Astruc seriously doesn't respect him! Samething happens to me in library, LOVE the place but if you're not careful BAM Lila was right. Andrew tripped on her lips. *Dancing Happily* OH MY PINK IZZY IS CLOSE! DAMN_ IT!  
**Starskulls: Well, before i get to your review. A massive thanks for the birthday wishes, your support, and these large reviews! On to your review. Yes it is a dream come true for that family to finally get what was coming to them! And we didn't forget Adrien and Max, Izzy said that she and Sabrina were the smartest _'girls'_ in school. So Adrien and Max don't really have a place in that category. Even though I didn't personally like them, I'm glad you enjoyed the ship moments.  
****W.R. Winters: We haven't made a decision on who will replace Mayor Bourgeois, but we will consider your suggestion, but considering Darkblade's motives for wanting to be Mayor I'm not sure if he would be the best pick...Don't worry Pink, what they were researching in the library wasn't Ladybug's Egyptian holder. Though it is something important, keep that in mind. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and I'm eager to see your thoughts on the most recent events.**

* * *

**W.R. Winters: And that's the last of them, only three... Slightly disappointing, but we still appreciate everyone that left a review.**

**Starskulls: And hopefully more people leave reviews cause now people really have something to review about! Lila has found a Miracle Box, which means that Lila has found a lost Miraculous! Everyone leave your guesses/theories about what kind of miraculous she found! Whoever gets the closest gets an extra special cupcake!**

**W.R. Winters: Hopefully the next chapter takes less than three months so we can continue to decrease the time between updates, but until then leaves your thoughts, feelings, and theories in your reviews.**

**Starskulls: Hopefully we see you guys in less than three months!**

**W.R. Winters: This is W.R. Winters and Starskulls, signing off.**


End file.
